New Zealand: Ed's not keen

Ed Chamberlin gives his top tips ahead of another big weekend on Sky Sports.

Premier League

There's a brilliant weekend ahead in the Premier League.

A feast on Sunday on Sky Sports 1, HD1 and Sky Bet Live with the Manchester derby, followed by Chelsea against Arsenal.

Both games look hard to call but I'm expecting plenty of goals in Manchester (Over 2.5 goals @ 8-11) and a corner fest in West London. A draw is no use to Arsene Wenger's side so they need to have a real go on Sunday. It should be a thriller.

The best bet on Saturday is a draw in the 120th Tees-Tyne derby at 12-5 with Sky Bet. Middlesbrough and Newcastle haven't drawn 0-0 since November 1974 at Ayresome Park but, incredibly, six of the last eight meetings have ended in score draws. Newcastle also have a decent record at the Riverside having lost on only one of their last ten visits. I also feel they and Middlesbrough are so closely matched that another draw looks on the cards on Saturday.

Aston Villa did the majority of punters no favours last weekend by bravely holding Manchester United to a goalless draw. Villa should get back to winnings ways against Fulham. The home side usually wins this match-up, with only one victory for the away side in the last 14 meetings. Fulham have never won at Villa Park in the Premier League and, despite their great performance at Anfield, I don't fancy their chances on Saturday.

At the start of the season, who'd have thought Stoke and Hull would meet with both sides outside the relegation places let alone in 14th and 6th place. Like the match at Middlesbrough, I can see this one ending in a draw and it's worth having a small wager on 1-1 at 6-1 as the last three meetings have finished with that scoreline!

Horse Racing

Saturday sees one of the great handicap chases of the season: the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury. Denman produced the performance of 2007 to win last season but this year's renewal is more of a puzzle with no such superstar and I believe Nicky Henderson, who hit the bar for us with Barbers Shop two weeks ago, has the answer with Oedipe.

The stable are on fire at present and Oedipe bolted up last season in the same race at Aintree that State Of Play won in 2005 en route to winning the following season's Hennessy.

Oedipe has had just nine races so is just the type of unexposed, progressive chaser that dominates this race. He's best on a flat track and decent ground, so providing there's not too much rain, Oedipe looks a great bet with Sky Bet.

My each-way fancy is Slim Pickings. Tom Taaffe trained this horse and protected his handicap mark for the Grand National but he didn't quite stay the marathon trip at Aintree so has now been let off the lease in 'normal' handicap chases. Slim Pickings jumps fluently, travels like a dream in his races and looks sure to run well at a decent price.

The best bet on Saturday's card is Pettifour in the Long Distance Hurdle. All eyes will be on the great champion Inglis Drever but I'd be amazed if he was sharp enough to deal with the new kid on the stayers' block, Pettifour.

At Newcastle I like another Tom Taaffe Irish raider: FingerOnthePulse in the Rehearsal Chase. The form of his Jewson win at Cheltenham looks red hot with the two that chased him home franking the form - Barbers Shop at Cheltenham and Possol's win at Haydock last Saturday.

Nicky Henderson could pull off a big race double as Punjabi will take the world of beating in the Fighting Fifth at 3.30.

Rugby Union

I've been waiting all through the autumn series to back England against the All Blacks. But can you really now side with a team that was humiliated 42-6 by South Africa, who were readily out-pointed by New Zealand in the Tri-Nations? Answer: yes you can!

I believe the current All Black team are over-rated. They are as efficient as ever but don't have the size and might of the Springboks or the flair of the Wallabies and Wales showed in the first half last Saturday that they can be made to look ordinary. They still have an aura about them, which is why England have been given a big head-start by Sky Bet.

Surely Martin Johnson will engineer a backlash from his England side, Toby Flood should give a lot more stability at fly-half and they should be well capable of getting within 20pts of this All Black side.

Noone is giving England a prayer but I'm going to go against the crowd and side with England on Sky Bet's handicap - the match should be a lot closer than people expect.

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