Glossing over the narrow misses in last week’s Flutter, with a dash of regret at putting so many eggs into one “Ba-sket”, it’s time to darken Paddy Power’s door and scan the new markets, digesting them along with that boxing day bubble and squeak.
Whilst keeping £50 million worth of footballer in the dugout, Daniel Sturridge is fast becoming one of the most promising England prospects, closing in a Euro 2012 spot week by week. Sturridge looked sharp and hungry in-front of goal against Spurs on Thursday night and will be odds on to contribute in Chelsea’s early fixture with Fulham at the Bridge today. Sturridge to score and the Blues to win is 10/11, but the first portion of our tenner will go on Sturridge to net two or more goals at 100/30 for £3.
There are certain players who cause an audible buzz of excitement through the crowd when they gain possession. When Gareth Bale collects a pass in his long stride, with open space in front of him, when Michel Vorm steps up and looks a penalty taker square in the eyes, when Seb Larsson squares up a free-kick from outside the box. Sunderland’s Swede just missed out in the Scout Picks, cruelly omitted in the final cull, but at 12/1 to score from a dead-ball, we’ll take £2 on Larsson forcing humble pie down our necks.
Thomas Vermaelen’s purple patch of goals may have dried up against the likes of Man City and Aston Villa, but we fancy him to cause problems against visiting Wolves on Tuesday. Wolves haven’t kept a clean sheet since the third game of the season, whilst Arsenal have kept three in the last seven. Vermaelen to score and keep a cleanie at 10/1 may be a little hard to chew, but the Belgian has managed it twice and we’ll back him to do it again for £2.
Our final “Who Will Score the Most?” market usually pits three in-from strikers against one another; this time around we’ve added some midfield flavour. Just a few days ago, Rafael Van der Vaart looked unlikely to play any part at Norwich on Tuesday but now, it looks as though he’ll recover to play his part at Carrow Road. At 11/8, Van der Vaart is favourite to net over the much-fancied Nani at 6/4 against Wigan, while the last of our Scout Pick trio, Scott Sinclair, is offered up at 5/2 against floundering QPR. The irony of Van der Vaart coming good after being sold on by thousands of Fantasy managers isn’t lost on us; we’ll back him with our final £3 to cover the inevitable.
Paddy’s Money Back Specials
Paddy has gone “Money Back” mad over the Christmas fixtures. If any of the Premier League games from Boxing Day to New Years Day have five or more goals in them, Paddy will refund all losing first/last goalscorer, correct score and scorecast singles on the match.
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