To celebrate the return of gameweek action, I decided to have a little fun with our partnership with Paddy Power and our regular Scout Picks selection and attempt to put our “money where our mouth is”. The hypothesis behind the “Fantasy Flutter” is simple – take a tenner and spread it over some bets influenced by the Scout Picks and see what’s left in the kitty once the dust settles.
Starting at the back, I’ve taken the gamble to include City’s Aleksandar Kolarov despite concerns over his chances of claiming a clean sheet, so let’s at least back his attacking credentials. Paddy has set us up with some “Specials” here and are offering 5/1 (6.00) on the Serb scoring anytime, with 14/1 (15.0) on him notching from a direct from a free-kick. We’ll take some of that action, although let’s not go mad – we’ll put a quid on each.
I’m pretty confident about Fulham’s chances against Blackpool and although Clint Dempsey is set to remain in midfield, he remains a major goal threat and could find some joy against Ian Holloway’s obliging rearguard. He has short odds on anytime goalscorer at 11/10 (2.10), so we’ll take advantage of some more Paddy specials and back him for first goal at 9/2 (5.50). Dempsey has scored first six times this season so we’ll show some confidence on this one and bung £4 Paddy’s way.
With Samir Nasri in our Scout Picks midfield, he gets backed for returns against Blackburn. He’s strongly fancied for anytime scorer at “evens” but we’ll take that given that the Frenchman is also party to Paddy’s Money Back Special. If scores the last goal of this game, Paddy will refund our bet. That seems fair enough, so let’s chuck another £2 on this one. Paddy has some more specials on Nasri right here if you fancy something a little different.
Finally let’s put what’s left of our tenner on some cheeky multiples. We’ve got our usual Clean Sheet Accumulator of course, with Paddy offering 9/1 (10.0) on shutouts for Arsenal (vs BLA), Man City (vs SUN) and Everton (vs AVL) – we’ll put a quid on that just for the hell of it. Our final slice of the pot can go on a double – we will back Frank Lampard and Luis Suarez to both notch away from home at Stoke and West Brom respectively – we’re lay down our last quid on that one, with £6.50 coming our way if that comes in.
We’ll revisit our “Fantasy Flutter” once the gameweek has passed, while Paddy’s very latest odds on the gameweek will arrive tomorrow morning in “Paddy Says”.
If you want to have a couple of punts of your own, a reminder that Paddy Power is still offering £20 of bets for free for those who sign-up and bet a tenner. Click here to get involved.
This offer is only available to those aged 18 and over and is subject to Paddy Power’s terms and conditions.
