IT was a tough Tuesday for most punters and although there are fewer games to look at on Wednesday some big names in action.
Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Paris St Germain are all playing and will be the sides most punters focus on.
There is an FA Cup Final rehearsal between Man City and Wigan and I'd imagine Roberto Mancini's side want to put down a marker against a side they've been six times in a row.
Wigan have done brilliantly to reach the Final but for me this is a comfortable City win while Man United should take a step closer to the title by winning at West Ham.
Chelsea to go to Fulham needing the points to stay in the race for a Champions League spot and again I expect them to win.
Inter Milan and Roma meet in the San Siro and in France PSG head to Evian in the cup.
As usual my top tips will be up in the morning.
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
In December 2020 we sadly 
Inter Milan V Roma
ROMA WIN @ 2.75 PINNACLE
Lens V Bordeaux
BORDEAUX WIN @ 2.03 WILLIAMHILL
Evian FC V PSG
PSG WIN @ 1.62 WILLIAMHILL
Wisla Krakow V Slask Wroclaw
WISLA KRAKOW WIN @ 2.55 GOLDBET
Vitoria Guimaraes V Belenenses
BELENENSES WIN/DRAW @ SKYBET
Milesey ( BETFAIR )
IPL CRICKET 11.30AM
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Pune Warriors v Hyderabad Sunrisers
live on ITV4
Pune
Pune should be full of vim and vigour following their ‘surprise’ victory over the Chennai Super Kings in Chennai on Monday, correctly called by Richard O’Hagan of this parish. And they did it without their captain Angelo Mathews, who, of course, is banned from playing in the state because he is Sri Lankan. Ross Taylor stood in and the 24-run win was testament to his abilities as a leader. Taylor got a big call right by bringing back Mitchell Marsh despite being expensive in his first spell. He was deadly and wrapped up the game. Mathews should return, however, which is harsh on Steven Smith who was blistering with the bat and caught everything in the deep.
Hyderabad
The Sunrisers are waiting patiently for the return from injury of their star batsman, Shikhar Dhawan. He has a fractured hand suffered during the Mohali Test against Australia last month. The game was his debut Test and he shot to fame with 187, the fastest by a debutant in Test history. Coach Tom Moody said he would be back in “the next 10 days”. Sunrisers were clinging on to a top four spot before Tuesday’s games but they suffered a heavy defeat by Kolkata Knight Riders last time out. Paceman Hanuma Vihari’s place is under threat after an expensive one-over effort.
Innings runs
Here are the totals from last season’s matches at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium: 166-155-146-177-120-125-173-136-162. This is an average of 151. Six from nine last season were won by the side defending a target. It is a tricky market to bet with confidence, however, because of the varying totals in that debut season for the ground.
Match odds
As impressive as Pune were against Chennai, it is difficult to believe that such a victory is deserving of such a gulf in price between these two. The Warriors are as short as 1.68 with Hyderabad 2.34. Perhaps it is a case of punters betting on momentum. After all, Hyderabad were awful against KKR. But we would not expect them to be as bad again. Or to put it another way, we do not expect Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma to repeat such a powder-puff show. They are stonking value as a back-to-lay and you should collect a few clicks when they trade as favourites. If trading is not for you then there is nothing wrong whatsoever in letting the Sunrisers run. Pune have superior batting but with such a good bowling attack Hyderabad are a real match. Useful Twitter handles to follow include yours truly @cricketbetting and the shrewd in-running advice of @salmanvictor.
Top Pune batsman
Aaron Finch may look like he could do with losing a few pounds but if he did he might not be able to biff it as hard. So far he is Pune’s go-to man, notching 131 runs at a strike rate of 132 in the opening berth. Robin Uthappa, who oozes class, has 108 runs.
Top Hyderabad batsman
The Sunrisers need some runs from Kumar Sangakkara. He has just 84 so far and at a strike rate of under 100, too. Thisara Perera is their top bat with 115 runs. Cameron White is next best with 105.
Recommended bet
Hyderabad at 2.34
Milesey ( betfair )
PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS
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All the players love going to The O2 in Dublin because the atmosphere is so different to many of the other venues on the Premier League circuit.
It’s an auditorium-style stadium that holds up to 12,000 people and we’re expecting between 7,000 and 8,000 people to be there on Thursday night. A bit like Bournemouth or Brighton it produces a different atmosphere to the sports arena / ice hockey stadiums that we use.
In somewhere like this you get an all-round sound coming on to the stage and it leads to a different – and often better – atmosphere for the players.
We’ve got six games in Dublin and Raymond van Barneveld plays against both Phil Taylor AND Michael van Gerwen on the same night. I think he’ll be lucky to get a point this week.
Phil Taylor also plays twice and I think he needs to get four points if he wants to finish in the top four. Anything less than that will leave him in danger of missing the play-offs.
Here’s how I see things going this week.
Andy Hamilton v Phil Taylor
As I say, Taylor needs to put wins on the board and he knows what he has to do. Andy Hamilton has gone off the boil a little bit and has been missing the double 16’s and double 8’s that he’s had a mortgage out on for much of the season. Taylor won’t let him off and I think the motivation of missing the top four for the first time in Premier League history will motivate him. I think The Hammer will feel the full force of Taylor this week.
ROD’S CALL: Taylor win
Raymond van Barneveld v Michael van Gerwen
Watching Barney over the last few weeks, I’ve seen him losing form in the middle legs of games. He did it against Andy Hamilton last week and got out of jail in the end, but I don’t think he can do it against Michael van Gerwen, who is on such a high at the moment. He won a UK Open qualifier at the weekend, he beat Taylor in the Premier League last week and Barney is going to struggle to get a point off him.
ROD’S CALL: Van Gerwen win
Robert Thornton v James Wade
Robert Thornton let Simon Whitlock off the hook last week when he missed far too many darts at doubles. He had been playing beautiful darts, but all of a sudden he crashed and burned and Whitlock took his chance. James Wade has been playing beautiful darts in the last few weeks and beat Adrian Lewis comfortably in Sheffield before losing to Van Gerwen in his second match of the night. I’m going to take the latter result out of the form equation and I can only see a Wade win. Thornton has surprised me all year and he’s got on with the job very well, but I just think Wade will get the better of him.
ROD’S CALL: Wade win
Simon Whitlock v Andy Hamilton
Whitlock seized his chances against Hamilton last week and it was a perfect example to any youngster watching darts that you should never give up, even when your opponent is playing very well. He won another Tour event last weekend and I think his form is looking very good. The Hammer has dropped off the level he’s been at for quite a while, but he’s a grinder and if you give him chances he will take them. He let Barney off the hook last week and didn’t play great at the weekend so I’m going for a Whitlock win.
ROD’S CALL: Whitlock win
Raymond van Barneveld v Phil Taylor
Taylor has lost a few matches this year and knows he needs a win, so I think he’ll come out with all guns blazing for Barney. If the Dutchman has a little dip in the middle of the game, as he has in the last few weeks, there’s no question Phil will bury him. Sometimes the lazy throw of Barney looks as smooth as silk when things are going well, but when it’s not going well he doesn’t seem to be able to make it work. Against Taylor, he has to make it work and he’ll need to dig deep to get a point out of the game.
ROD’S CALL: Taylor win
Michael van Gerwen v Adrian Lewis
Nobody wants to play Michael van Gerwen at the moment, as proved by his big win over Taylor last week. Adrian didn’t play well against Wade in Sheffield and that’s been the case for some time – and he went out early in both tournaments last weekend. He has been really bad on his doubles and said to me “I’m putting them on the wire Rod, what more can I do?” I just told him that if he keeps thinking about putting them on the wire then they’ll keep going on the wire. We all know what Lewis can do – he can beat anybody on his day – but we keep saying that and he hasn’t been doing it. Van Gerwen, in contrast, has been doing it and going on the form book I have to go for a win for the Dutchman.
ROD’S CALL: Van Gerwen win
RODNEY TROTTER
Let him keep doing it, i get more of a bouns, not like i need any more money, for my shares are rocketing, just waiting for the 2 billion takeover to go through now ;) ;)
Milesey ( betfair )
www.betfair.com
Milesey, I’m bored of him, don’t know what his point is. We all know you’re Betfair and we’re giving site users a few extra pointers which they can read or not.
Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings
Start Time: BST (15:30)
TV: Live on ITV and itv.com
Delhi Daredevils
Things go from bad to worse for Delhi’s expensively assembled line-up. Defeat in the Super Over to RCB on Tuesday leaves them bottom of the IPL table with zero points. The absence of Kevin Pieterson has been a hammer blow to a batting line-up that was capable of huge scores last year, but now seems far too reliant on David Warner and Mahela Jayawardene. Nevertheless, Delhi retain enough quality with both bat and ball to turn things around and finish in a respectable position.
Chennai Super Kings
It hasn’t been plain sailing for the defending champions and pre-tournament favourites either. A surprise defeat to Pune last time leaves Chennai in seventh place, with two wins and two defeats. We’re yet to see anything like the best of Suresh Raina or this superb batting line-up’s trademark huge totals. However it’s a pretty safe bet to assume they will deliver with the bat at some point, perhaps later in the tournament once Faf Du Plessis arrives.
First Innings Runs
We’ve seen all sorts of pitches at Feroz Shah Kotla in recent years. This used to be very slow and low but, in response to criticism, last season’s surface turned out to be a road, yielding three totals over 190 including 207 and 215. The two innings so far this term were 165 and 114 so conclusions are hard to draw, although it’s fair to say the latter owed more to the Delhi’s failing than the pitch. At some point, we’ll see a big score here and both of these classy line-ups are overdue to deliver. I’ll therefore be taking big prices about over 190 and 200.
Match odds
Delhi’s form may be absymal but they’re bound to win a match sooner or later. In Warner, Sehwag, Jayawardene and Pathan, they have the power to hammer anyone so it may be worth taking a chance that this is their day. Very few 1.64 favourites in T20 cricket go on to win without their odds at least drifting in-running, so Delhi should offer some trading mileage at 2.5.
Top Delhi batsman
Virender Sehwag looks a pale shadow of his former self and potentially an easy early wicket for Dirk Nannes and co. That would bring Mahela Jayawardene to the crease early so lets back the skipper at around 4.5 to anchor the innings.
Top Chennai batsman
Whatever his early failures in this year’s IPL, you won’t go far wrong backing Chennai’s run-machine Suresh Raina at 4.5 in most matches. Whereas a case could be made for anyone in their top-seven in hope that their slogging pays off, Raina’s accumulative style tends to be the core reason behind their frequent huge totals. That could well be the case here, if the ground indeeds offers little to the bowlers.
Recommended bet
Back Delhi @ 2.5
Milesey ( betfair )
Recommended bet
Hyderabad at 2.34 ** WIN **
NICE……….. thought that cricket bet had gone down the pan, but they bowled PUNE out for 108, after setting them only 120 to win thought it was all over.
Milesey
2 out of 2 outsiders won in todays IPL, a 6/5 and an 11/8.
There is a case for constantly backing with the value in this as a lot of games are just too hard to call.
Yeah just seen that, Mumbai Indians out for 92, after RR set them 180 to win the game…… i didn’t have a bet on this match. but never saw this result, PUNE was different, i didn’t expect them to win this game and was right in my bet.
Milesey
I had backed Pune in the first and RR in the second so bitter sweet, didn’t enjoy that collapse as much as you did in the first match!
Rajasthan Royals actually look a good outside bet for the whole thing to be honest, at 8-1.