Curbishley: Under pressure

More money for Curbs

Money continues to flood in for beleaguered Hammers boss, Alan Curbishley, to be the first casualty of the first Premier League Sack Race, prompting Sky Bet to cut his odds from 5/2 to 7/4.

Curbishley, who narrowly avoided a Carling Cup embarrassment on Wednesday, is 5/4 to last the season as West Ham manager (4/7 not to last the season).

Under-fire Derby boss, Paul Jewell, is Sky Bet's 5/2 favourite to be the first Championship manager to go and is 7/4 to lose his job before Curbishley (2/5) is ousted.

Derby have not won in 35 league games and Sky Bet quote 16/1 for Jewell to be sacked by midnight Saturday.

SWP 5/1 for City award

Following the news that Manchester City have completed the signing of their former player Shaun Wright-Phillips from Chelsea, Sky Bet are offering 5/1 for the England international to be crowned City's player of the year in the 2008/09 season.

Wright-Phillips left City to join Chelsea for £21m in July 2005 but he only made 43 Premier League starts, scoring four times and it's evens he scores under 5.5 goals in the current Premiership season.

Wright-Phillips could make his debut against Sunderland this Sunday and it's 150/1 he has a dream start and bags a hat-trick on his debut and 7/2 he scores.

Curbs under pressure

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley is a top-priced 5/2 with Sky Bet to be the first Premier League manager to lose his job after he vowed to win over doubting fans after Wednesday night's Carling Cup scare against Macclesfield at Upton Park.

Hammers fans were jeering Curbishley and sang "you're getting sacked in the morning" just before Lee Bowyer grabbed an equaliser to force extra-time in the second-round clash against the minnows from League Two.

"What can I do about it apart from win games and keep going?" said Curbishley. "I've had this now for a little while, I'll get on with it, I'm a big boy as I've said before."

Sky Bet reckon his position is the most precarious of all the Premier League managers, quoting him at 5/2 in their 'sack race' betting and then offering 7/1 about Mark Hughes and Paul Ince and 10/1 bar.

Curbishley is as short as 6/4 elsewhere to be the first to go.

The late show

Liverpool have left in late before notching the winner in their recent games, with the latest example coming in their Champions League qualifier on Wednesday night.

The tie against Standard Liege looked destined for penalties until Dirk Kuyt popped up with the decisive goal with three minutes of extra time remaining.

And that followed an 83rd minute winner at Sunderland and two goals in the last four minutes against Middlesbrough in their two Premier League matches to date.

So it's no surprise to see Sky Bet quote a price on Liverpool scoring in the last five minutes of Sunday's match with Aston Villa, with the Reds offered at 4/1 to find the net.

Winning run

England are one victory away from claiming a surprise NatWest Series victory over South Africa and Sky Bet make them just 6/4 to win their upcoming ODI series in India.

Impressive performances at Headingley and Trent Bridge have marked the start of Kevin Pietersen's reign as captain, with England excelling with the bat, ball and in the field.

They are now no better than 1/7 to win the current series, 6/4 to triumph on Indian soil and also 4/6 with Sky Bet for their lucrative Twenty20 clash with the Stanford All Stars.

Final flourish?

Oscar De La Hoya is a 4/7 chance with Sky Bet for his proposed clash with Manny Pacquiao.

The bout will pit boxing's biggest star with one of the sport's best pound-for-pound fighters and Sky Bet go 4/7 De La Hoya and 5/4 Pacquiao.

De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) has won titles in six different weight classes while Pacquiao ((47-3-2, 35 KOs) has won his last seven fights.