Football Free Bets
Sunday Premier League betting preview and free bets
Bolton Wanderers v Birmingham City, 1.30pm
Both teams have enjoyed a solid start to their Premier League campaigns, having bagged a win and a draw from the opening two matches. Bolton are looking pretty good under Owen Coyle, with Wanderers having won at Southampton in the Carling Cup on Tuesday and they are strong favourites (6/5 Paddy Power - £20 free bets) to win at the Reebok Stadium on Sunday.
Coyle was a popular replacement for Gary Megson last January and is now looking to steer the club to a top-half finish. Martin Petrov was bought to achieve this aim and the Bulgarian is 10/1 with Victor Chandler - £50 free bets to open the scoring and manage his first for the Trotters since switching from Manchester City in the summer. Ivan Klasnic (13/2 Sky Bet - £15 free bets) was the match winner at St Mary’s during the week, while Johan Elmander (6/1 William Hill - £25 free bets) actually looks good for 20+ goals this season.
Birmingham City have twice come from behind to achieve a positive result this season, with the Blues drawing 2-2 at Sunderland on the opening day before beating Blackburn 2-1. Alex McLeish’s team are 14/5 (Coral- £20 free bets) to win this match, although they were defensively slack at the Stadium of Light a fortnight ago and were helped by Lee Cattermole’s silly sending off. The manager will hope that Nikola Zigic (17/2 Victor Chandler - £50 free bets) is the answer to their goalscoring problems, although it was Craig Gardner (16/1 bet365 - £200 free bets) who scored a brace against Rovers.
Liverpool v West Brom, 3pm
Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres didn’t travel to Trabzonspor this week for the Europa League clash and the pair should be nice and fresh for this encounter as Liverpool look to win their first Premier League match of the season. As you might expect, the Reds are strong favourites at 1/4 (Victor Chandler bookmakers) to land a much-needed three points ahead of the international break and take some pressure off manager Roy Hodgson after a poor display against Manchester City.
It’s never helpful when one of your best players decides he’s not up for the match and this was the case with Javier Mascherano who is currently angling for a move to Barcelona before the transfer window closes. Hodgson was hoping to deploy Gerrard in a more advanced position at Eastlands and he’s 6/1 (Paddy Power bookmakers) to break the deadlock against the Baggies, who will be assembling plenty of men behind the ball at Anfield.
Roberto Di Matteo’s objective will be to try and frustrate the team’s opponents, something that they failed to do when losing 6-0 at Chelsea on the opening day of last season. It’s entirely possible that they could come away with a draw (5/1 Ladbrokes bookmakers), especially after battening down the hatches to beat Sunderland 1-0 last Saturday Peter Odemwingie scored the winner for Albion and he’s a massive 20/1 (Victor Chandler bookmakers) to break the deadlock in this one, although this is perhaps where Fernando Torres (5/2 Paddy Power bookmakers) steps up to the mark and shoots his team to maximum points.
Sunderland v Manchester City, 3pm
There have been plenty of people raving about Manchester City since they beat Liverpool 3-0 at Eastlands on Monday, although this match will act as a better yardstick in terms of understanding the team’s Premier League title credentials. Roberto Mancini’s team are trading at odds-on (17/20 Victor Chandler - £50 free bet) to win at the Stadium of Light, although they only just managed to scrape a draw in this fixture last season and were battered by Tottenham on the opening day of the season only to hang on for a goalless draw.
Paddy Power – £20 free bet offer odds of 12/5 that this match finishes all square and that could be the best value, with Sunderland illustrating that it’s likely to be another inconsistent season for a team that are probably too good to go down but nowhere near the European places. Steve Bruce’s team are 7/2 with Paddy Power to win this match and they were cruising on the opening day of the season against Birmingham before Lee Cattermole was sent off, so perhaps it’s worth considering them at 9/4 (Blue Square - £10 free bet) on the Draw No Bet market.
Darren Bent has already opened the scoring in two matches for Sunderland and he’s 11/2 with bet365 - £200 free bet to break the deadlock again, although Joe Hart’s in the sort of form where it might take something special to find the net. City’s main man in attack is Carlos Tevez and the Argentina international is 5/1 (William Hill - £25 free bet) to draw first blood for the visitors.
Aston Villa v Everton, 4pm
The Toffees will hope that there’s some tired legs in the Villa camp when they travel to Birmingham for this televised encounter, with Everton looking for a result that will kickstart their season. A total of one point from matches at Blackburn and at home to Wolves is a poor return for a side tipped by Sir Alex Ferguson as having an outside chance of winning the Premier League title, although David Moyes’ team are 2/1 (Ladbrokes bookmaker) to register their first win of the season on Sunday.
Everton’s main problem appears to be a lack of firepower, with Louis Saha (7/1 Paddy Power bookmaker) likely to return at the expense of Jermaine Beckford (8/1 Victor Chandler bookmaker), although it’s Tim Cahill (8/1 Stan James bookmaker) who could rate as the best First Goalscorer bet. The Australian plays in an advanced midfield position and was the player who opened the scoring against Wolves on Saturday.
Aston Villa caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald rested several players for his team’s Europa League match against Rapid Vienna on Thursday and will be looking for his side to bounce back from that 6-0 tonking at the hands of Newcastle United. Stan James offer a best price 8/5 (Stan James) that the Villans bounce back with a win before the international break and they will be boosted by the return of Gabriel Agbonlahor from injury. The striker is Paddy Power offer 13/2 that he opens the scoring.
