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[u]Leeds v Blackburn[/u] Leeds are playing well, there's no doubt about that. An opening day victory over Wolves was followed by an unlucky loss to early league leaders Blackpool before Neil Warnock's men got back to winning ways by beating Peterborough. Add in two impressive cup wins and it's four wins from five for United, 11 goals scored and just three conceded. Blackburn have also started the season well going on results alone, but they haven't been playing great and that showed in midweek when they lost in the Capital One Cup to League One outfit MK Dons. I sense Leeds are in for a good season and their form at Elland Road is going to be crucial if they are to be in the promotion picture come May. I'm not at all confident that Rovers will be there at the death however and ...

[b]Mike Norman takes a look at three Boxing Day fixtures and predicts easy wins for Liverpool and Manchester United, but he believes Bolton v Newcastle is much harder to call.[/b] [b]Bolton v Newcastle, KO: Boxing Day 15:00, Match Odds: Bolton 2.7, Newcastle 2.9, The Draw 3.5[/b] Bolton recorded a much needed win against relegation rivals Blackburn in midweek and they'll fancy their chances of another victory when an out-of-form Newcastle visit the Reebok Stadium on Boxing Day. Having said that, the Trotters have lost nine of their last 10 league games at the Reebok Stadium so confidence is unlikely to be too high. After a quite brilliant start to the season Newcastle find themselves without a win in six, injuries mounting up, and - not surprisingly in my opinion - having one...

[b]Liverpool and Chelsea are two of the most successful clubs in Carling Cup history, but Michael Lintorn isn't convinced that either will be in the quarter-final draw this year.[/b] [b]Stoke v Liverpool[/b] (19:45) Tony Pulis' side have tasted defeat just once in 21 games in 2011, and that was when they had little to play for at home to Wigan on the final day of last season. Factor into the equation their cup prowess - Manchester City are the only team in 18 matches over the last 19 months to have seen them off in 90 minutes, and they have won six of their first seven in the Europa League - and Liverpool's 2.22 favourite status appears rather bewildering. The Reds have been to the [b]Britannia Stadium[/b] four times since Stoke's promotion without success, heading home empty-handed...

[b]Andrew Atherley roots through the statistics to bring you a trio of suggested bets in the 2011-12 Barclays Premier League relegation market...[/b] Almost every season the Premier League relegation market is headed by the three promoted teams and this season is no exception, with [b]Swansea[/b] favourites at 1.67, [b]Norwich[/b] next at 1.88 and then [b]QPR[/b] at 2.78. But almost every season the market is confounded, with the promoted teams often performing better than expected. Just once have all three newcomers been relegated in the 16 seasons since the Premier League was reduced to 20 teams, with one or none being relegated in 10 of those 16 seasons. That indicates we should expect at least one of the promoted teams to stay up - you have to go back 14 seasons to find the...

Saturday was not a great day. It began when I woke up early, put on the telly, and saw the cricket score. Having written that Australia couldn't possibly take 20 wickets, and backed my belief with hard cash by laying the Aussies for the Perth Test,[b] Mitchell Johnson[/b] had turned the whole Ashes series on its head. What's more, I'd broken one of my normal golden rules of gambling and not "gone green" when I had the opportunity 24 hours earlier. Next I spent five hours stuck in snow on the M5. I was two miles from the next junction when I heard that Birmingham's game with Newcastle was off, and it took forever before I could get there and turn round to go back home again. The wait wasn't helped, as a boyhood[b] West Ham[/b] fan, by listening to them struggling along at Blackburn. I...