Last week was another poor one from a prediction point of view but my own personal disappointment was sated by Spurs' win at Arsenal and the Welsh rugby team only drawing with the Fijians!
From my ten forecasts only four were correct and this led to a loss of £3 on the week and resulting in the profits having halved in the last month to only £18!
The small successes were the All Blacks' big win over Ireland in what appeared to be a closer game than the scoreline suggested, Blackpool and Manchester United triumphing in the Barclays Premier League and finally a success in American Football with the correct prediction of Green Bay to win at Minnesota.
For many the biggest sporting event of the weekend is already underway in Brisbane where the Ashes cricket started a couple of days ago. As I said on this blog a couple of days ago this series was never going to be easy for England and this has been borne out so far with Australia having the upper hand, though not by too much. As the game has already started I won't be making any predictions for this game but you can be assured I will be keeping track of developments!
The tennis season is drawing to a close in London this weekend and we already know that Roger Federer and our own Andy Murray have made the semi-finals. It is likely world number on, Rafael Nadal, will join them and my prediction to win the tournament is Federer.
It is the final set of rugby union autumn internationals and there are some fascinating encounters in prospect. For me the highlight will be the game at Twickenham between a resurgent England and the wounded Springboks. If England can win (and that is my prediction) they will be seen as a team likely to provide a real threat in next year's World Cup, if they lose it will seriously dampen down that expectation. Meanwhile Scotland take on Samoa which will be close but I think will result in a home team win, France face Australia in what promises to be the most exciting of the games and again I'm predicting a home win, and Ireland host Argentina where again I think the tourists will fail.
There is no prediction for the Wales game against the All Blacks, mainly because I agree with the bookies that it will be a win for the New Zealanders and the odds don't make a prediction worthwhile.
Elsewhere in England the premier league football season continues. In what for years most people regarded as being fairly predictable, this league seems to have taken on an unpredictability almost beyond belief in the last few weeks with no outstanding team and a number of "unfancied" teams punching above their supposed weight. My predictions this weekend are for Aston Villa to draw with an Arsenal team deprived of Fabregas, a similar result between Fulham and Birmingham, Chelsea to win at Newcastle, both teams being models of inconsistency lately and finally for Spurs to build on their recent wins by defeating Liverpool but I suspect there may be some goals in that game!
With a success in an American Football prediction last weekend I'm having another shot this weekend and forecasting that the Vikings with their new coach beating the Redskins.
In summary and with betting odds the predictions are:
ATP Tennis Finals in London
Federer to win at 11/8
International Rugby Union
England to beat South Africa at 1/2
Scotland to beat Samoa at 2/5
France to beat Australia at 10/11
Ireland to beat Argentina at 2/5
Barclays Premier League Football
Aston Villa to draw with Arsenal at 12/5
Fulham to draw with Birmingham at 12/5
Chelsea to win at Newcastle at 3/4
Spurs to beat Liverpool at 11/10
NFL American Football
Vikings to win at the Redskins at Evens
No comments:
Post a Comment