My game of may have been cruelly called off this morning as Barnet 2s were undoubtedly frightened by the front row I was going to be putting out against them but nevertheless this weekend has plenty of other sport to keep me going.
For many the highlight will be the Carling Cup final tomorrow when Arsenal go for their first piece of silverware in six years but for me the big event is the rugby at Twickenham where England host France in what should be the Six Nations Championship decider.
Before I start with this week's predictions however, we need to tidy up the results from last week where even though I made six correct forecasts the week resulted in a 50p loss (mainly due to my lack of success with the FA Cup predictions) and this means overall profit for the blog is down to £33.
This week's predictions will start with football and as I mentioned above the main event will be taking place at Wembley where Arsenal play Birmingham in the Carling Cup final. Though it pains me to say Arsenal under Arsene Wenger do play good football and even if they are missing a couple of their stars as seems likely due to injury I think they will have too much for Birmingham and should win relatively easily. Meanwhile the Barclays Premier League continues towards the final quarter of the season and my predictions for this week are the unpredictable Everton to win at home against Sunderland, Manchester United to win at Wigan and strengthen their grip at the top of the table and finally the rejuvenated Liverpool under Dalglish to draw at West Ham who have also had a bit of a renaissance since Christmas.
The action I'm most looking forward to this weekend is the third round of Six Nations rugby which kicks off with Wales visiting Italy who had contrasting fortunes a couple of weeks ago. Whilst the Italians were thoroughly trounced at Twickenham the Welsh beat a very uninspiring Scotland team in Edinburgh. However, I'm going to ignore those results and I'm predicting the Italians to bounce back from their thrashing and win narrowly against the Welsh. That game is just the appetiser and the match that really catches the imagination is England v France which could determine not just the Six Nations Championship but also a possible Grand Slam. The two protagonists are the only unbeaten teams after two rounds of matches and probably the only two teams from the Northern Hemisphere who can challenge for the World Cup later this year in New Zealand. With so much at stake I would normally predict a tight, feisty game but with the way both team play I think it will be an open high-scoring game with England triumphing based as much on home advantage as patriotism!
The final game of the weekend tomorrow will be at Murrayfield where Scotland who were so dire against Wales a fortnight ago host Ireland, a team I believe on the decline. Sticking with my home advantage philosophy I'm predicting a narrow win by the Scots in a game that will not be much to get excited about.
Of course there is more for the sporting enthusiast this weekend than Rugby Union and Football and my final predictions reflect this. In Rugby League the World Club Challenge between Wigan and the Illawara Dragons is the big event and whilst I may have predicted the town's football team to lose I think their rugby team will triumph.
The cricket World Cup continues in earnest in the sub-continent and a recently unimpressive England play hosts India tomorrow. Again, slightly based on patriotism and ignoring recent form I'm going for an England win as the players are good enough and I think they will get better as the tournament progresses so why not tomorrow!
My final prediction is in the world of motorsport. The undoubted big news of the week was the indefinite postponement of the F1 opening race in Bahrain due to the recent civil unrest in the Principality. For me this is a pity for two reasons, but nevertheless the right decision. Firstly, because I believe this season has the promise to be as good if not better than last year in F1 with all the new technical regulation changes but secondly because I have an affection for Bahrain having lived there and being the birthplace of my sister, and by hosting an F1 race it helped put the country on the map for the right reasons.
However, the F1 season will not now get underway for another month which should help the teams better develop and prepare their cars for Australia. In the meantime the same country, albeit a different circuit, hosts the opening races of the World Superbikes, a sport in which British riders have traditionally enjoyed much success in recent years with the likes of Fogarty and Toseland. Whilst admittedly I am more of a Moto GP follower, and therefore no expert on this series I do enjoy the racing and am looking forward to more British success this year and am therefore predicting a Leon Haslam win in the opening race.
In summary the predictions are as follows:
Carling Cup Final
Arsenal to beat Birmingham at 4/7
Barclays Premier League
Everton to defeat Sunderland at 3/4
Manchester United to win at Wigan at 7/12
West Ham to draw with Liverpool at 23/10
Six Nations Rugby
Italy to beat Wales at 31/5
England to defeat France at 1/2
Scotland to win against Ireland at 2/1
Rugby League World Club Challenge
Wigan to beat Illawara Dragons at 13/11
Cricket World Cup
England to beat India at 2/1
World Superbikes
Leon Haslam to win Race 1 at Phillip Island at 13/1
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