Betting.Betfair

[i]It will take an almighty shock for it to happen but is it ever wise to bet against Manchester United? The Betfair Contrarian explains why he believes the Red Devils will be celebrating a 20th league title come Sunday tea time...[/i] Shortly after ownership of the Premier League's top spot changed hands in March, I plunged two fingers in my ears as everyone yelled excitedly about Manchester United's impermeability to run-in nerves. Instead, I advised punters to shun instinct and lay them to finish first at 1.64, my ridiculed stance vindicated and trading position strengthened as United spectacularly surrendered an eight-point lead. The turnaround has seen the champions catapulted out to 8.6 to retain, a price which has inspired a change of heart: I anticipate one last title-race twist...

[u]Sporting Lisbon v Manchester City, Thursday 18:00, ITV4. [/u] Having triumphed against Porto in the previous round, Manchester City now return to Portugal to take on Sporting Lisbon. In theory, this should be a much simpler task for Roberto Mancini's side. While Porto are top of the Portuguese League and now just 1.38 to retain their title after a crucial win at Benfica last Friday, Sporting are 14 points adrift after yet another underwhelming season. So underwhelming, in fact, that their current boss Ricardo Sa Pinto, a former captain of the club, has been in charge for less than a month after the departure of Domingos Pacienca, who reached the final of this competition last year with Braga. However, since Sa Pinto's arrival, relatively little has changed in terms of team ...

Manchester City are in the process of learning that any slight slip up can prove catastrophic when fighting for major honours, but their Europa League opponents Porto have demonstrated this season that the punishments are even more severe in Portugal. Ex-assistant Vitor Pereira has fared fairly admirably in the unenviable gig of succeeding treble-winner Andre Villas-Boas, yet one defeat and just 11 dropped points has been enough to leave them trailing Benfica by five back home, and two Champions League losses spelled the end of that adventure. As a result, they risk finishing a campaign in which they have been solid at the back, pretty effective going forwards and have racked up the victories with nothing other than the Portuguese Super Cup, no real consolation, to show for it. It...

[u]Liverpool v Man City, 19:45, Sky Sports 1[/u] This writer finds much to fault in terms of Kenny Dalglish's performance since returning to Liverpool, including his transfer dealings - for which Damien Comolli is also culpable - points dropped to lowly clubs, inconsistent criticism of officials and handling of the Luis Suarez affair. One area in which he has consistently delivered in his second stint however is in getting the best out of his players in big-match environments, which is perhaps why he took the unusual step of publicly berating them after Saturday's 3-1 defeat away to Bolton. Under Dalglish, the Reds have won two and drawn another of their four meetings with Manchester City, gone three for three against Chelsea and beaten both Manchester United and Arsenal. And...

The two Manchesters march on in a Premier League title race that has very much become a two-horse race. Spurs are out to 23.0 for the title after defeat away to City whilst Arsenal are at 300.0 with some suggesting they're best chance of being in the Champions League next season is to actually win it this year. But whereas Arsenal can have few complaints about their 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester United, Spurs have good reason to feel deeply aggrieved about their own defeat. They went 2-0 down to goals from Samir Nasri and Joleon Lescott (matched at 16.5 to score) but came back to draw level with Jermain Defoe making the most of some poor defending to round Joe Hart and score and Gareth Bale curling in a beauty from outside the box. Having traded at 1.04 to win the match when 2-0...

[u]Manchester City v Liverpool, 7.45pm, BBC1 [/u] A first home defeat of the season against Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday means that Manchester City enter this Carling Cup semi-final first leg on their worst run of 2011-12, having won just one of their last four games. Making matters worse is the fact that captain and star centre back Vincent Kompany will now miss four matches, including both legs of this tie, due to his dismissal at the weekend. Add into the mix the absence of another defender, Kolo Toure, and Yaya Toure, their most used outfield player, and you get the impression that January, the month that the Premier League leaders usually look forward to more than any other club, will be the most testing of their campaign. Get through it still top of the table...

[b]Could Manchester United really receive a Champions League reprieve? Hannah Duncan explains why such a move would be completely wrong.[/b] Cards on the table, as an ardent Chelsea fan I found it rather amusing when [b]Manchester United[/b] were knocked out of the Champions League group stages by FC Basel two weeks ago. I watched the game, fully expecting a typical display where Sir Alex Ferguson's side get the result they need with relative ease, casting disappointment across England (except those lovely folk in Torquay, Buckinghamshire and other areas where United are popular). But on this occasion, there was no gallant performance or lucky 98th minute equaliser and the English champions crashed out at the group stages for just the third time in 17 years. But news broke earlier...

[b]The brightest stars in the Premier League were shining this weekend as the leading three found a way to win tricky fixtures, says Ralph Ellis.[/b] Okay, so we all know it's a squad game these days, there's no 'I' in team, and all that sort of stuff. But one thing that doesn't change is that in every football side there is one key player. It's true of your Sunday pub team. Be honest. There's one bloke you hope will be there every week, come rain, shine, or mother-in-law's Christmas get together. And whatever the manager might try to claim it's true of every club in the Premier League too. If you can identify that player, then checking the team news to discover he's missing can give your betting a real edge. For instance Darren Bent was out injured from Aston Villa's dismal ...

Amid quite remarkable scenes at the usually muted Stamford Bridge, Manchester City's record-breaking start to the campaign was halted by Chelsea, however history suggests that Arsenal should fear facing the wounded leaders on Sunday. The script is already being written for Manchester United to beat QPR earlier in the day to go top, and then the reinvigorated Gunners to kick Roberto Mancini's men while they are down. As a result, they are out to 1.88 to win the title from a low of 1.5. But a glance at the statistics shows that clubs who suffer defeat after posting the longest unbeaten run at the beginning of the season rarely fold in the manner that many assume that they do. In each of the last six years, the last side to have their loss column blemished - and intriguingly Manchester...