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This week sees Evan Bartlett – take his pick of the market in the north London derby, astonished at the odds in Spain, back Benitez’s men in Italy and fancy a home banker in the Bundesliga.

Premier League – England

The second of Sunday’s two local derbies in the Premier League sees Tottenham make the short trip across north London to play Arsenal at the Emirates.

The respective pre-seasons for the London rivals has been dominated by their transfer activity (or lack of it). Gareth Bale’s proposed move to Real Madrid has formed the greatest transfer saga of the summer so far and Arsene Wenger’s reluctance to spend any money whatsoever has proven to be a recurring nightmare for Arsenal fans.

The Gunners have come back strong following that disappointing opening day defeat to Aston Villa but an injury to free-scoring Lukas Podolski and a lack of support up front for Olivier Giroud must worry Wenger in the long-term.

Two understated victories for Spurs – both with clean sheets – promise much more for the rest of the season and even if Bale is to leave you just get the feeling this Spurs side are about to explode onto the scene.

Spurs look a great bet at 2.6 to beat Arsenal in the DRAW NO BET market.

La Liga – Spain

This round of games in Spain is set to be a cracker, with ties including Real Madrid v Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad v Atletico Madrid, Sevilla v Malaga and Valencia v Barcelona topping the bill.

Of those, the most glaringly generous odds are 1.58 on a Barcelona victory at the Mestalla. While such short odds-on wouldn’t usually suggest good value for the punter, let’s remember that Valencia haven’t beaten Barcelona in the league since 2007 and that was when their squad still included the likes of David Villa and Fernando Morientes.

Since then, their squad has been picked off by the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and the rest of Europe’s top clubs and Los Che are now in millions of pounds worth of debt.

Barcelona on the other hand, are still one of the best sides in Europe and boast an embarrassment of attacking riches in the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cesc Fabregas, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta etc etc.

Those odds of 1.58 don’t look too shabby now, do they?

Serie A – Italy

A brace from captain Marek Hamsik, and impressive debut performances from ex-Real Madrid men Jose Callejon and Gonzalo Higuain saw Napoli run out easy winners against Bologna on the opening day.

Rafael Benitez’s men have become most people’s second favourites behind Juventus for the Scudetto this year and their opening display will have gone quite some way to reassure their backers.

Despite the loss of Cavani, replacements such as Higuain and Callejon up front as well as Raul Albiol and Pepe Reina at the other end of the pitch look to have strengthened the squad over the summer.

Their midweek preparations haven’t been ideal for their upcoming match against Chievo – drawn in a tough Champions League group against Arsenal, Dortmund and Marseille followed by the media storm caused by club Chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis who threatened to sue the local authority for giving substandard medical care to star striker Gonzalo Higuain (for ‘falling’ off a yacht in Capri and requiring stitches to his face).

It’s unclear whether the Argentine will feature this weekend, but regardless, Napoli should run out as winners at Chievo with odds of 1.86.

Bundesliga – Germany

The start of the Bundesliga season has been a nightmare for Thorsten Fink’s Hamburg with just one solitary point from their opening three games. But this weekend’s fixture at home to Eintracht Braunschweig gives them a great opportunity to get the first win on the board.

The Bundesliga celebrated its 50th birthday this week and the fact that Hamburg are the only team to have been ever-present in the top-flight since its inauguration in 1963 has left some baffled by their poor start to this campaign.

Their odds of 1.81 against a newly promoted Braunschweig, who have lost all three of their games so far, are probably a bit inflated considering that Hamburg should win this one comfortably.

Their early form is certainly cause for concern, and rumours of a transfer bid for Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner can’t have allayed supporters’ fears all that much, but with the likes of Rafael Van der Vaart and Artjoms Rudnevs they should prove too strong for a Braunschweig team that look out of their depth in the top-flight.

Summary
Back Tottenham DRAW NO BET at 2.6 (1 pt)
Back Barcelona to beat Valencia at 1.58 (1 pt)
Back Napoli to beat Chievo at 1.86 (1 pt)
Back Hamburg to beat Braunschweig at 1.81 (1 pt)

NB: Odds correct as of 30 August 2013

Evan Bartlett is a freelance journalist based in London. His football tips returned a profit of +58.08% last season – after 13 points staked gave a return of 20.55. His best picks were Nigeria to win AFCON 2013 at 10.5 and Shakhtar to qualify from Champions League Group E at 2.9.

You can follow Evan on Twitter @ev_bartlett

13/14 Profit/Loss
Wagered: 6 pts
Returned: 8.04 pts
P/L: + 2.04 pts