Newcastle A Good Bet To Earn A Draw Against Chelsea

Thursday, 1st December 2011

The first live match from the Premier League this weekend is the Saturday lunchtime kick-off between Newcastle and Chelsea. I watched Chelsea against Liverpool the other day and they were absolutely shocking. There’s no width, no balance, no shape to the side, and no wonder Fernando Torres isn’t scoring and not playing very well. I don’t care who plays up front for them, they would struggle to score goals in that system. They were terrible. They used to go a goal up and you would look at the opposition and you could see from their body language that the game was over, but I think you can reverse that now. As soon as Chelsea go a goal down and you look at their body language they don’t believe they can get back in the game. They don’t believe in what they’re doing and they don’t believe in the manager at this stage, and unless he changes his philosophy he won’t be in the job long. Newcastle on the other hand have been great.

I know Chelsea can still be tough to play against but if you’re asking me to bet on them to win after the other night I’m saying no. I think you had to be at the Liverpool game to believe how bad it was. But are you going to back against them? They still have good players that could go to Newcastle and get a result so it’s a very difficult game to call, so I will go for a 1-1, at odds of 6/1 with Ladbrokes, on this.

The late game is Aston Villa against Manchester United and you’ll want to keep your stakes low as it is another very difficult game to read. Man Utd are all over the place and if Sir Alex says that he’s not going to buy in January he’s either not telling the truth or he’s misguided because they need players. You don’t know whether you’re coming or going with Villa though as they are either all out attack or all out defence. I do think there will be goals in this game as I don’t think Alex McLeish can afford to be negative. You look at Man United and you just think that if ever there’s a good time to play them it’s now and if there’s ever a good time to beat them it’s now. I don’t see a cautious approach from Villa and Man United can’t stop conceding so I think there will be goals in this game, so I’m going to go for the correct score of 2-2 at 16/1 with Coral.

Wolves against Sunderland in the live Sunday afternoon kick-off is a huge game. It’s a game where it’s more important that the two sides don’t lose rather than win. So as I say if either loses then it’s a calamity, but if they draw it wouldn’t go down too badly in either camp. I don’t think it’s going to be one of those games where both teams go at it from the start, so it could be a slowish start with neither side giving away too much early on, that’s why I’m going to go for more goals in the second half than the first half at 23/20 with William Hill. I don’t think you can bet either of these two teams and I’m not confident it will end in a draw, while I also don’t think either side will go ‘gung ho’ or want to go behind.

Fulham against Liverpool is the live Monday night match and even though Liverpool were the better side against Chelsea in mid-week they lacked width on the right hand side. It is only when they put Bellamy out there did Liverpool look as if they could win the game, so it was a strange move from Kenny Dalglish to put Maxi Rodriguez inside of Bellamy on the left and put Jordan Henderson on the right. They had two wide players on the left and none on the right which was very, very strange but he made the change and after that they scored two goals.

Fulham at home aren’t bad, although I did see the game between the two at Craven Cottage last year and Liverpool’s performance for an hour was probably the best I saw all season. It was a sensational display and they’d certainly settle for that again. They were professional against Chelsea earlier this week and they don’t look like scoring four or five goals so I don’t see them emulating what they did last year [Liverpool won 5-2]. Fulham are a tough prospect at home and it’s difficult to pick a winner of this game, with Fulham a bit too big to lay at 12/5 with Bet365, so I’m going to go for the over 2.5 goals at 6/5 with the same bookmaker.

I’m going to go for a four-way accumulator this weekend as the lower league clubs turn their attention back to the FA Cup. Charlton are on a seven match winning run and I’m backing them to beat Carlisle at 8/13, while Crawley are joint top of League Two and they can be backed at 1/5 to beat Dagenham and Redbridge. The two Sheffield clubs are both in action and Sheffield United are 8/15 to beat Torquay, while Wednesday can be backed at 1/2 in their match with Aldershot. The odds on all four winning pays out a shade under 7/2 with Coral.

Steve Claridge’s Weekend Football Tips

Tip #1: Newcastle v Chelsea – Correct score of 1-1 @ 6/1 with Ladbrokes.

Tip #2: Aston Villa v Manchester United – Correct score of 2-2 @ 16/1 with Coral.

Tip#3: Wolves v Sunderland – Second half to be the highest scoring half @ 23/20 with WilliamHill.

Tip#4: Fulham v Liverpool – Over 2.5 goals @ 6/5 with Bet 365.

Steve’s Weekend Accumulator: Charlton to beat Carlisle (8/13); Crawley to beat Redbridge (1/5); Sheffield United to beat Torquay (8/15); Sheffield Wednesday to beat Aldershot (1/2). A £25 accumulator returns a touch over £86 profit with Coral.com.

Booking Steve Claridge

Our resident football betting tipster, Steve Claridge, is available for hire and is the ideal choice for a wide range of personal appearances and media work.

Enquire About Steve Claridge's Availability

Football League Show Host & Radio 5 Live Presenter

Quick Links