With six teams trading at 7/4 or less to go down, Ed Chamberlin previews a key Premier League weekend.
Race to beat relegation is too tough to call, says Ed
With the international matches out of the way it's back to the roller-coaster ride that is this Barclays Premier League campaign.
The way the season has gone, it's a brave man who backs Manchester United at 2/5 to win the title with the tricky fixtures that they have coming up, Manchester City at 1/3 to finish in the top four with the injuries crisis they currently have, and any kind of bet in the battle to avoid relegation, which looks impossible to call.
It's amazing at this stage of the season to have six teams trading at 7/4 or less to go down.
Sky Bet's title odds: 2/5 Man Utd, 10/3 Arsenal, 11/2 Chelsea, 66/1 Man City, 300/1 Tottenham
To finish in Top 4: 1/3 Man City, 15/8 Tottenham, 10/1 Liverpool
Relegation: 1/3 Wigan, 11/10 Blackpool, 6/4 Blackburn, 13/8 Birmingham, 7/4 West Brom, 7/4 West Ham, 7/1 Aston Villa, 10/1 Newcastle, 12/1 Fulham, 20/1 Stoke
The Premier League weekend kicks off with a massive game between West Ham (7/2) and Manchester United (4/5), which I am really looking forward to presenting live from Upton Park. It should be a cracker with United looking to avenge their biggest defeat in nine years - 4-0 here in the Carling Cup quarter-final tie in November.
That was not the first time Man Utd have left Upton Park in despair. Remember 1995 when a widely-expected last-day victory against Harry Redknapp's West Ham side would have seen United win the League? Sir Alex's side were held to a 1-1 draw, leaving the way clear for Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn - despite their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on that day - to lift the trophy. Will Upton Park continue as a bogey ground for United on Saturday?
The positive for the visitors is that they have now gone 512 minutes (eight hours & 32 minutes) since they last conceded a Premier League goal against West Ham, since Dean Ashton scored in a 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford in May 2008. The game is an intriguing prospect and I hope you can join me and my special guest, Sir Trevor Brooking, on Sky Sports HD2 from 12.30pm to kick off what's going to be an intriguing Premier League weekend.
Another clash between top and bottom sees Arsenal (1/4) host Blackburn (12/1) at the Emirates. It's hard to oppose an Arsenal side that has won six of the last seven meetings in all competitions, scoring 22 goals, against a Blackburn side that's on a horrible run which has seen shorten to 6/4 to be relegated.
Chelsea (4/6) can't be ruled out of the title race but face a tricky trip to Stoke (9/2), for whom the international break came at just the wrong time after their big 4-0 win against Newcastle. Chelsea will be a different kettle of fish and have a 100 percent winning record in the PL against Stoke - five wins out of five. Chelsea have won the last seven meetings in all competitions, scoring 19 goals and conceding just two. This includes a 7-0 win at Stamford Bridge last April - Stoke's biggest top flight defeat in 108 years.
Stoke's last League win against Chelsea came 36 years ago - 3-0 in a top flight game at the Victoria Ground in April 1975.
Chelsea also have a 100% winning record at the Britannia Stadium and are unbeaten in their last six visits to Stoke in all competitions, winning five and conceding just one goal. Chelsea look banker material at 4/6.
However, at a more tempting price my 'bet of the week' is Liverpool to win at West Brom at 11/8. Their Merseyside neighbours, Everton, did us a big favour two weeks ago by beating Fulham and making it ten winning 'bets of the week' from the last 13 selections.
Ironically Liverpool's only away defeat in the last four was when I tipped them to win at West Ham. They look a really good, well organised unit on the road under Kenny Dalglish and look set to be boosted by the return of Steven Gerrard and inflict even more bad Liverpool memories on poor Roy Hodgson.
Liverpool have a 100% winning record against West Brom in the Premier League - nine wins out of nine without conceding. They have scored 25 goals in that time. Albion have now gone 810 minutes (13½ hours) without scoring a PL goal against Liverpool.
Liverpool clearly have the 'sign' over WBA, having won the last 13 meetings in all competitions and are unbeaten in 20 (winning 18). Albion's last win came 30 years ago - 2-0 in a top flight game at The Hawthorns in February 1981 - when John Lennon was number one in the charts with "Woman" and the same month as Prince Charles and Lady Di got engaged.
Liverpool have won all four PL visits to The Hawthorns, scoring 15 goals, which includes a 6-0 win in April 2003, and going further back, Liverpool have won on their last nine visits to The Hawthorns in all competitions.
I strongly fancy Liverpool to make it ten in a row and 11 winners from the last 14 selections for us. I'd be surprised if Liverpool stay 11/8 for long if Steven Gerrard is confirmed as a starter on Saturday.
The World Cup, which seems to have gone on forever, finally reaches its conclusion this weekend and it's a huge relief to see our ante-post bet on India at 11/4 one step from coming to fruition.
Saturday's final (live on Sky Sports HD1) sees India (8/13) take on Sri Lanka (5/4) and I will be hedging my position by backing Kumar Sangakkara's side.
However, with Sri Lanka finally taken away from the desperately slow pitch in Colombo that did for England and New Zealand, I fully expect Mahendra Singh Dhoni to be lifting the World Cup trophy in Mumbai on Saturday evening.
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