evan_bartlett29

KXIP will be kicking-off their IPL campaign away to the Pune Warriors looking to win their season opener for the first time in six attempts.

And Adam Gilchrist's men will have been boosted by watching Pune's limp defeat at the hands of new boys the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday.

KXIP do look a bit light in the batting line-up, especially with their leading IPL run-scorer Shaun Marsh sitting out injured. The likes of Gilchrist and his experienced compatriot David Hussey will be under pressure to score most of the runs for the Punjab outfit.

Although judging by the Warriors paltry 104 against on Friday they shouldn't have too much to worry about but the team from Pune have more potential than their opening game suggested.

With a destructive middle-order of Marlon Samuels, Ross Taylor and the returning Yuvraj Singh they are likely to score seriously big if only one of those men comes to the fore.

And Pune Coach, Allan Donald will have been happy with his team's bowling performance. Ashok Dinda, Rahul Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar all performing well, and let's not forget, despite their poor batting performance, they did manage to restrict the Sunrisers to 126.

If their bowlers can perform to a similar level then I would expect their explosive batting line-up to live up to their billing and see off KXIP who do look slightly weak, if the Warriors can claim a few early wickets then this could be a walkover.

One interesting stat to take note of is that 4 out of 5 of the teams batting first in this year's IPL have gone on to win the game. Therefore, whoever wins the toss could have a big advantage and odds are likely to change drastically according to that outcome.

Summary: Back Pune Warriors to win @ 1.76

Following Zambia's unlikely triumph over the Ivory Coast in last year's final, this year's version of the African Cup of Nations looks set to be perfect timing for revenge. The Elephants start as pre-tournament favourites, and with the likes of Didier Drogba and the Toure brothers making up the spine of the team it is easy to see why. But as last year showed, the AFCON can be full of surprises with the group stages being the perfect hunting ground for some tasty looking odds.

Group A

Group A sees host nation South Africa kick-off the tournament against unlikely qualifiers Cape Verde who beat West African giants Cameroon on their way to the finals. Cape Verde start an unsurprising 3.8 to qualify for the quarter finals. Angola look to be good value at 2.3 to qualify from the group, especially after beating the defending champions in a recent friendly. The second place of the group should then be fought between South Africa - a very short 1.14 to qualify - and Morocco at 1.68. Will the incessant noise of vuvuzelas inspire Bafana Bafana past their North African counterparts?

Summary: Back Angola to qualify @ 2.3

Group B

Group B will see tournament second-favourites Ghana, without star player Andre Ayew, look to win all 3 games against fairly poor opposition. Mali is in the grip of impending civil war - will this spur their players on or prove to be too much of a burden on their players' shoulders? Time will tell. However, Jonathan Wilson (writer of Inverting the Pyramid and editor of football journal 'The Blizzard') picks Niger as his surprise dark horses for the tournament - at least in a back-to-lay scenario. And who am I to argue? So backing the West Africans at 6.4 to get to the quarter finals seems a fair shout - especially given DR Congo's recent record in international football and their relatively short odds of 2.7. There doesn't seem to be too much point in backing Ghana at 1.08 to qualify and Mali may be a nation that it's best staying away from for now.

Summary: Back Niger to qualify @ 6.4

Group C

This group is home to the defending champions Zambia - looking to prove that last year's victory wasn't a fluke. Their first big challenge will come against Stephen Keshi's Nigeria. The Super Eagles have underperformed for a very long time on the international stage and are one of my picks to go furthest in the tournament. They look a good price at 2.14 to head the group. James Eastham of betting.betfair recently wrote a piece about Burkina Faso looking to upset a few of the bigger boys, with striker Jonathan Pitriopa being a player to watch. However, I do feel Nigeria and Zambia should be too strong for the Burkinabes and unlikely qualifiers Ethiopia who are a massive 18s to win the group.

Summary: back Nigeria to win the group @ 2.14

Group D

The final group, the ever-present group of death sees the Ivory Coast take on a strong trio of Tunisia, Algeria and Togo. The Ivorians are the obvious favourites to win the group (1.48) and to qualify (1.14 but there are some more attractive odds available for the other 3. Tunisia and Algeria both come in at 6s to win the group with Togo a distant 16s, but to qualify at 5.5 seem to be a more sensible option. Apart from their star player Emmanuel Adebayor up front, their squad does look to lack the quality of the other three. So a fight between the two North African sides looks likely, with Algeria currently being the 2nd best FIFA ranked team (22nd, behind Ivory Coast in 14th) they seem to look good value to qualify from the group at 1.9. However, their opening Group D encounter against Tunisia will prove to be an early decider in this battle.

Summary: back Algeria to qualify @ 1.9

For an overall pick to win the tournament, I fancy the Super Eagles of Nigeria @ 10.5

Expect the Cup of Nations to be full of surprises, filled with goals and of course lots of cliches from the commentary teams across Western Europe. Enjoy.

You can follow Evan on Twitter - @ev_bartlett

It’s that time of year again. The theme song blares out of stadium speakers, Gary Neville clears his throat for more mind-boggling goal-gasms and 32 of the best teams in Europe prepare for battle. This year’s Champions League promises to be as exciting as ever with both Barcelona and Real Madrid looking favourites to compete the final at Wembley next May. Before the competition kicks-off on Tuesday evening take a look at this brief group by group analysis of the bets with best value and those big teams that may be worth betting against.

Group A
Carlo Ancelotti’s Paris St. Germain are clear favourites for this group at 2.04 and could offer decent value at that price. Porto look very short odds to qualify at 1.43 and tough away games to Kiev and Zagreb could allow one of the Eastern sides to make it through – Dinamo Kiev look good at 2.6 to qualify with the promising Andriy Yarmolenko leading the line.

Summary: Dinamo Kiev to qualify = 2.6

Group B
Group B should offer a fairly easy route through for London club Arsenal (1.21 to qualify) who have made a promising start in the Premier League this season. Runners up place should be claimed by German club Schalke and their odds of 1.65 to qualify clearly reflect this. French champions Montpellier have had a very tame start to this year’s Ligue 1 and look unlikely to trouble the top of this group.

Summary: Arsenal to qualify = 1.21

Group C
Group C offers up a real tough choice with 3 really strong teams comprised of AC Milan, Zenit St. Petersburg and Malaga. After a promising start to the La Liga season Malaga look really good at 2.22 to qualify especially with their experienced squad. On paper, Zenit look very strong this season with the expensive acquisitions of Axel Witsel and Hulk so favourites for the group AC Milan could be layable at 1.3 to qualify as one of this season’s surprise upsets.

Summary: (NAP) Malaga to qualify = 2.22

Group D
This year’s proclaimed ‘Group of Death’ is by definition tough to predict. After a disappointing campaign last time round Manchester City will really be looking to focus their efforts on qualifying from the group stage this year (1.56) but will face stern tests against Real Madrid, Dortmund and Ajax. However, it is impossible to look past Jose Mourinho’s Madrid to win the group at 1.7, with Dortmund just missing out on the top two (2.62 to qualify).

Summary: Real Madrid to win group = 1.7

Group E
Defending champions Chelsea will have to perform a miracle to emulate last season’s triumph but do look strong contenders here to top the group at odds of 2.08 with the likes of new boy Eden Hazard looking to make an impact after his big-money move in the summer. Italian champions Juventus will be Chelsea’s biggest threat to top the group (2.4). Shakhtar Donetsk could be a real outside chance here, the Ukrainian club have started the league season in dazzling form winning 9 out of 9 and scoring 32 goals so far, with the 60,000 seater Don Bass Arena offering a really tough away fixture for their opponents  – odds of 2.9 to qualify could be worth a punt.

Summary: (NB) Shakhtar to qualify = 2.9

Group F
Group F sees last year’s runners-up Bayern Munich (1.47) as clear favourites and should be too strong for the likes of Valencia (3.95) and a much-depleted Lille (9). A good bet in this group could well be the straight forecast Bayern Munich/Valencia at 1.7 although even that price is not particularly enticing.

Summary: Straight forecast Bayern Munich/Valencia = 1.7

Group G
Barcelona are the obvious choice in this group, the Catalan giants have been one of the most prolific teams in world football, winning 3 of the last 6 Champions League titles. New manager Tito Vilanova will be looking to get off to a convincing start in this competition and new signings Jordi Alba and Alex Song can only have helped to bolster the squad. Benfica also look well placed to qualify from this group at 1.59 as Spartak Moscow and Celtic have made very average starts to their respective league seasons.

Summary: Benfica to qualify = 1.59

Group H
Manchester United, strengthened by the signing of the talismanic Robin Van Persie will be hard to beat in Group H and are favourites to top the table at 1.28 although last year’s surprise exit may offer some hope for Galatasaray at 8 and Braga at 7.6 to win the group. A better option may be to back Galatasaray to qualify at 2.02, having started with some promising results in the Turkish league and with some experienced players in their squad. Note that their odds are likely to lengthen after their first game away to Manchester United so could be a good option to back after that fixture.

Summary: Galatasaray to qualify = 2.02

You can follow Evan on Twitter @ev_bartlett

With the end of the domestic season comes the fear of every football supporter; waking up on a weekend morning with the realisation that there are no more football matches for three months!

But alas, fellow football fanatic, for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine are on our doorstep waiting to be fluttered upon.

The group winner markets are one of the best areas to make some money early-doors and for me there are 2 stand out winners and 2 close calls.

Group A
Group A is arguably the weakest in the tournament, comprising of co-hosts Poland, 2004 winners Greece, and habitual dark horses Czech Republic. But my outstanding favourites for this group are Russia at 2.5.

With the likes of Andrei Arshavin, Alan Dzagoev and Roman Pavlyuchenko leading the forward line they look a real threat to the other teams in this group. Poland, whilst having home advantage are a very weak host and the Czech Rep are not as strong as some of their forebear teams.

Group B
Group B is the 'Group of Death' with 2nd and 3rd tournament favourites respectively Germany and Holland leading the way in the betting for this group, closely challenged by Portugal with the best player in the tournament in Cristiano Ronaldo and a young Denmark team with one of the brightest stars in European football in Christian Eriksen.

I expect Holland just to pip this group and look decent value at 2.98, they start with a game against Denmark and I expect them to get a more confident start than the Germans who play Portugal first up.

Group C
Group C contains reigning champions and tournament favourites Spain and I really cannot see past them for this one at meager 1.61. The likes of Xavi, Iniesta, David Silva and Juan Mata should be too much for the likes of Italy, Ireland and Croatia to deal with.

Second place in this group may be more of an area to win some money and I think Croatia could upset Italy especially with a favourable start against Ireland in the opening fixture. So for Group C I would plump for a dual forecast on Spain and Croatia at a generous 3.4.

Group D
Group D contains the other co-hosts in Ukraine, persistent underachievers England, an always competitive Sweden and a rejuvenated France and it is our Gallic neighbours that I expect to win this group at 2.68 - how very unpatriotic of me!

I just feel England have too many injury worries this time around and that France are looking strong under new manager Laurent Blanc with an exciting mix of young and experienced players. I do expect this to be one of the most closely contested groups however, with co-hosts Ukraine as well as Sweden offering strong competition to the two favoured teams.

Summary
Group A winners: Russia 2.5
Group B winners: Holland 2.98
Group C dual forecast: Spain and Croatia 3.4
Group D winners: France 2.68

Best of luck and enjoy the tournament!

You can follow Evan Bartlett on Twitter @BartlettsBlog

Record on £10 stakes = +/-£0

With so many of the big names exiting at the first round stage, now is the time to look for some value in the market and back some outsiders.

With favourite Neil Robertson (4.7) facing a potential in-form Ronnie O'Sullivan (6.2) in the quarter final and second favourite Judd Trump (4.8) facing a tricky route to the semi-finals to face Higgins (12.5) Hendry (19) or Maguire (10) I can't see much value in this part of the draw.

Instead, I look to the bottom quarter of the draw, the scene of some early upsets (Selby, Ding and Allen) and look to back two Welshmen - Matthew Stevens trading at 25 and Ryan Day at 42. They both face winnable second round encounters against Barry Hawkins and Cao Yupeng repsectively. If they were to win they would face eachother in the quarter-final with one then guaranteed to reach the semi-final most probably against Robertson or O'Sullivan at which point I would suggest a lay to make a small profit.

follow me on twitter @ev_bartlett