Chelsea 11/8 look banker bet against ragged Villa

ON THE MARK: Didier Drogba (right) is back in favour at Chelsea and looks a good bet for first/last goal at Villa Park on Saturday – the Ivory Coast hitman trades around 5/1

Weekend Soccer Predictions
THE PG QUAD
On to the weekend quad and all our weekend selctions are in the Premiership, where we start with the game of the weekend at Villa Park where fourth-placed Chelsea take on Martin O’Neill’s third-placed Aston Villa side.
We said last week that Villa looked to be tiring and they seemed a ragged side against Everton with a lot of heads dropping when they went 3-1 down.
As we went to press they were in UEFA Cup action against CSKA Moscow and then they have this massive game at Saturday lunchtime – two big games in three days will take their toll.
On the other hand CHELSEA (11/8) will be fresh come the weekend and that could be the major factor that settles this match. New manager Guus Hiddink will be eager to get his short-term Chelsea managerial campaign off to the best possible start and we think he will – a win could relaunch Chelsea’s faltering title hopes.
STOKE (11/8) are a very difficult team to beat at home and that could determine what division they are playing in next season. They face a massive game against Portsmouth on Saturday and a win is a must for Tony Pulis and his team.
BOLTON (11/8) are another team at the wrong end of the table and Gary Megson’s team face an in-form West Ham team at the Reebok on Saturday. It’s simple – they need three points from this game and we think they will get them.
Making the quad up are another team in dire straits MIDDLESBORO (11/8) who need a win and need one soon. They take on hard to beat Wigan knowing that anything less than a win could mean curtains for manager Gareth Southgate.
THE PG FIVEHIT
On to the odds-on fivehit and we start with LEEDS (1/2) who need to be more consistent if they are to make the play-offs and surely they can take all points against doomed Cheltenham. MILLWALL (4/7) have lost their way in recent weeks but we are banking on them taking all points against struggling Brighton.
HEARTS (4/7) at last have hit a bit of form in the SPL and should continue in that rich vein of form with victory over St Mirren.
Talking of in-form teams and you have to mention DUNFERLINE (5/6) who have now moved into second place in the Scottish First Division. They’re in great heart and should be taken to beat Ross County.
We have to wait until Sunday (hopefully) for the fivehit and we are banking on FULHAM (8/11) doing the business against West Brom.
THE PG XXX
We quickly finish with our XXX and we have gone to the Championship for all our draws.
We take DERBY to take a point at NOTTINGHAM FOREST and CHARLTON to share the points with BARNSLEY. BURNLEY travel to Carrow Road and think they will come away with a point against NORWICH
Remember that perm folks – doubles and treble!

Rest of Guide

Festival countdown begins
The Festival countdown is well and truly on with just 19 days from today (Friday) to go to Cheltenham 2009.
Starting next week we will giving away free bets on almost every race at the festival thanks to our sponsors Sean Graham. Most of the competitions will be run on our betting blog and some in the run of the paper.
To access the betting blog on a daily basis simply type the following address into your web page www.thepunters guide.blogspot.com or go to www.belfastmedia.com and click on blogs and you will see the PG blog.
We are giving away tickets to the Sean Graham Cheltenham Preview Night on Monday, March 2, so go to our blog to enter.
If you are keen to get some expert and inside knowledge for the upcoming festival, then put the date in your diary.
On the panel there is trainer Tony Mullins, jockeys Sam Thomas and Denis O'Regan along with Attheraces expert Matt Chapman, along with the two gentlemen in the picture above, bookmakers Brian and Ronan Graham.
Tickets are now on sale at all Sean Graham bookmakers.
On to the weekend action as we attempt to put some money in the Cheltenham bank and we start at Kempton where we have the Racing Post Chase (3.15 Saturday). We have gone for an each-way bet here and opted for the Nigel Twiston-Davies trained BATTLECRY at 16/1 to be there or thereabouts. He has yet to recapture last season’s form and if he he does then it’s simple – he will run a big race come Saturday.
If Starluck turns up at Kempton on Saturday get stuck in as he bids for four wins on the trot.
We have the Tote Eider Chase at Newcastle at the weekend (3.30 Saturday) and we have gone for recent Ayr winner MORGAN BE (10/1) who will relish the gruelling four-mile trip.

Irish Lotto punter left gutted
WELL-known local punter Paddymac from Andersonstown just missed out on the bet of his life last weekend.
Paddymac does the Irish Lotto bet religously every Wednesday and Saturday and at the turn of the year changed his bet to the better odds on the SIX number draw.
It’s over double the odds for FOUR numbers at 6,500/1 for the six number draw with SEVEN number draw priced at 3,000/1 with Paddy Power.
Paddymac placed his usual bet on the Saturday night and three of his numbers came out – 2, 6 and 18 all dropped.
His other number, 9, came out as the bonus ball and our punter was left reeling.
If he had been on the SEVEN draw he would have been picking up £6,000.
His THREE number draw was the same with 2 and 18 being drawn and 9 as the bonus – another £600 Paddymac could have won.
A dream holiday would have been the order of the day for our luckless punter but, a few Sean Graham betting vouchers will help ease the pain for poor Paddymac.

Surely we can end the week with a winner - we have went for an opening race double at Warwick Elk Trail (Nap) and Clay Hollister in the opener