Back from Munich folks in great form for numerous reasons – what a city and what a time and, more importantly, what tipping by the PG last week.
On Saturday evening my mates and I called into a nice wee German bar to watch the Ireland v Italy game and one by one the PG selections came in on the computer at the bar. It was around 9.50 on Saturday night that it was confirmed that the PG QUAD had touched along wit the PG FIVEHIT.
Let’s just say I celebrated into the wee small hours with a posse of singers from Ardoyne who were in great form.
I did say last week that we are after the Halloween money and if this quad touched it would take care of Christmas as well, and there were loads of punters out there who lumped on our quad that paid 92/1, with Grahams and Ladbrokes taking a bit of a hiding with a few £20 bets and loads of £10 bets – so quids in for those punters.
The FIVEHIT also came in at odds of 10/1 and one lower Falls punter backed both the Fivehit and the quad, combined them and took the bookies for over £2,040 for a £2 stake – and the guy in question was picking up his first football bet of the season.
So an incredible 1019/1 accumulator by the PG and I think I should retire now. It’s our best return in our 15-year history and as usual we are leaving all our rivals toiling – we are the first, the original and now we can call ourselves the best tipping column around.
PG XXX
So high expectations on our shoulders this weekend and we start with the draw treble that has eluded us this season.
We start with the big Championship match where leaders NEWCASTLE pay a visit to the City Ground to take on NOTTINGHAM FOREST.
Newcastle, as we all know, lead the way in the Championship but they take on an in-form Forest side who have won their last three games and a draw looks the bet in this one at 9/4.
YEOVIL and CARLISLE are at the wrong end of the table and both meet on Saturday and this looks to have a draw written all over it.
League Two leaders BOURNEMOUTH travel to ACCRINGTON STANLEY on Saturday and the leaders will not have it all their own way against cash-strapped Stanley who are free-scoring and hard to beat at home, so another X on this one.
PG QUAD
On to the PG Quad and we start with our knocker of the weekend. We have gone for Championship bottom club IPSWICH (5/4) who can climb off the bottom with a win over Swansea.
QPR (6/5) are another team to impress this season and we are banking on Jim Magilton’s men to grab all points at home to Preston.
SOUTHAMPTON (15/8) are starting to hit form and look a solid choice to take all points away at Oldham.
Making the quad up are DARLINGTON (16/5) who are another team who sit at the bottom but new manager Steve Staunton could turn that form around starting with a win on Saturday. The quad pays around 60/1.
PG FIVEHIT
Again it’s a skinny FIVEHIT and we start with DUNDEE UTD (1/2) who should be too strong for Hamilton, while HIBS (8/11) should collect all points at home to Kilmarnock.
MAN CITY (8/11) can take all points at Wigan on Sunday while in the Championship MIDDLESBORO (4/7) can gain on Newcastle with a win over Watford. We stay in the Championship to make the Fivehit up and we are banking on CARDIFF (4/5) to do the business against Crystal Palace.
RACING:
WHAT a day we have on Saturday at racing headquarters Newmarket, with Champions Day and the likes of the Champion Stakes, the Cesarewitch and the Dewhurst to name a few.
CHAMPION STAKES
We start with the big one on Saturday, the Group One Emirates Airline Champion Stakes (3pm), and we have a hot favourite in the shape of Irish Derby winner Fame and Glory who finished sixth in the Arc a fortnight ago and he trades around the 6/4 midweek. We aren’t interested and feel this race has come too soon after that run behind Sea the Stars. To be honest, we have had one horse for this race and that is the Marcus Tregoning-trained Mawatheeq who has done nothing wrong in his last two races, absolutely scooting up against Campanologist at Ascot on his last run and looks a horse on the upgrade. He gets an early 6/1 quote from Sean Grahams.
THE DEWHURST
On to the tricky-looking Group One Jumeirah Dewhurst Stakes, which looks a a great race for the two-year-old.
Favourite CHABAL (9/4) will run his last race for Jim Bolger and has a favourite’s chance, while our outside bet is XTENSION who could run a big race for Clive Cox and gets a 10/1 quote from Grahams.
THE CESAREWITCH
On to the wide open Cesarewitch Handicap (3.40) which is run over two miles two furlongs, and this race is like a lottery.
The ante-post money has come for DARLEY SUN (11/2) and he should go off the jolly on Saturday in this marathon after his second in the Doncaster Cup, but we have narrowed it down to two for this one and start with our main hope.
The Mark Johnstone-trained YES MR PRESIDENT (14/1) is our first selection down – we marked him down for this race after he hammered a half-decent field at Haydock and if he reproduces that run then he will there or thereabouts come Saturday.
SILK AFFAIR (20/1) was a revelation over hurdles last year and is off a handy mark on Saturday. He could run a big race on Saturday and looks a great each-way bet in this wide-open affair.
Quickly scooting through the rest of the card and ASHRAM (7/1) could get us off to a winning start on Saturday in the Group Two Victor Chandler Challenge Stakes (1.50) while Tabassum looks the bet in the Group Two Lotus Evora Rockfel Stakes (4.25).
The very much in-form AVE will take some catching in the Group Two Pride Stakes (4.50) while OASIS KNIGHT can win the finale, the Jockey Club Cup at 5.25.
3 comments:
some great picking yet again there p.g.
fred the red
Something strange has happened in the Premier League this season. Only four of the 66 top-flight matches played have ended as draws. It is a remarkable statistic that has prompted much head-scratching in the world of football following another weekend when not a single Premier League game finished with teams sharing the points.
Various theories have been put forward, from poorer defending to more attack-minded formations and the idea thatthere is a growing imbalance between top and bottom, although the one Pat Nevin will not accept is that the four draws are a statistical quirk without explanation. "I don't think that can be a fluke," said the former Chelsea winger who now works as a media pundit. "It's an extremely odd stat but it strikes me as too odd to be dismissed."
It is certainly bizarre when compared with previous years. Over the past 17 seasons the lowest percentage of draws during a Premier League campaign stands at 20% (2005-06) and the highest at 31% (1996-97). The average over the course of that period is 27%, a figure which suggests that there ought to have been about 17 draws at this stage of the season, more than four times the current total. So what has changed?
Nevin believes many clubs have been bolder in their approach, leading to an increased number of goals (2.95 pergame on average this season compared with 2.48 last) and, as a result, fewer draws. "I think you need to look at how systems have possibly adapted," he suggested. "There was a period where a lot of teams set out either as 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 and that really does lead to stalemate. But fewer teams are doing that now, including those near the bottom.
"On Sunday I was at Sunderland versus Wolves. Both teams were playing 4-4-2 and it was an open game but I think Burnley are the perfect example. Most teams who have come up in the past, especially if they have had a couple of hammerings, think 'let's be sensible and get back to basic defending'. But Owen Coyle [Burnley's manager] is not going to do that. He's going to keep on attacking even though there might be a few heavy defeats."
Maybe this is what Jimmy Hill envisaged would happen almost 30 years ago when he proposed the introduction of three points for a win and talked about revolutionising football. The number of draws decreased thereafter but not to a huge extent and many would argue that in later years the advent of the Premier League and the financial riches that accompany top-flight status have led to a number of clubs adopting more cautious tactics.
It is notable this season that the biggest change has taken place among the leading sides. Not one of the clubs in the top 11 has drawn a game yet, a sharp contrast from this time last year, when Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United had each registered two draws. Furthermore, matches between the top six clubs have been much more high-scoring, perhaps indicating a greater desire to chase three points as well as a fall in the standard of defending.
Liverpool are a case in point. Rafael Benítez's side have transformed themselves into the Premier League's great entertainers, with their seven matches this season producing 32 goals. Admit- tedly a couple of early defeats have not helped Liverpool's cause but Benítez could not have failed to notice that Manchester United won the title last season despite losing twice as many games as their Merseyside rivals, who ultimately paid the price for drawing 11 of their 38 matches.
Should the Liverpool manager open up at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Nevin will begin to believe that the game really has changed. "The classic drawn game of the season is Chelsea v Liverpool, so let's see what Benítez does.
"He's been a little bit less cautious so far but I would instinctively think he will go back to two sitting midfielders for Chelsea and, if he does, we're not out of the woods yet. But if he plays with one sitting midfielder, then maybe the world has turned."
liam
terrible picking at the weekend puntersguide i must say.
Liam
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