Expert Bet

This Saturday’s Premier League recorded 4 draws out of 7 games, some rare and unexpected results as three members of the Big Four failed to win. Moreover, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester and Arsenal all failed to score.

Arsenal are the big losers of the day as Manchester City sent them to their fifth league defeat this season, a 3-0 defeat. The Gunners now trade at 40.0 to win the Premier League.

Luis Felipe Scolari and Rafa Benitez keep their Premier League leadership. A point for Aston Villa was enough for them to overtake Arsenal and move up to fourth. United stay eight points behind the leaders, with a game in hand.

Chelsea was backed at the low odds of 1.2 about a home win by many punters who were eventually let down while Liverpool were trading at odds of 1.22 to defeat Fulham. Goals were expected in both matches with one goal or more taken at a low of 1.04 for the Chelsea-Newcastle clash and 1.06 for Liverpool-Fulham.

The 0-0 scorelines at Stamford Bridge and Anfield were backed at odds of 24.0 and 17.0 respectively, while a 3-0 Manchester City win was an in-running 75.0 chance.

Portsmouth were held to a draw by the determined newcomers Hull. The draw was backed at oddds of 12.0 while the 2-2 final score touched 29.0.

Middlesbrough seems like an unpredictable team. Therefore, betting on such a team doesn’t look like a very good idea for a regular punter. Playing at home to Bolton, Gareth Southgate’s men were warm favourites, but were eventually beaten 3-1, a final score that was backed at massive odds of 65.0

Alan Curbishley has resigned his post as manager of West Ham United after 71 games in charge, blaming a “breach of trust and confidence” with the club’s owners for his departure.

Managers usually resign or are forced to resign when their teams are not living up to expectations. However, that’s not the case here. Although it’s still early in the season, West Ham is in 5th place, having taken six points out of nine and advancing to the 3rd round of the Carling Cup.

Curbishley’s decision to quit was triggered by the departures of Anton Ferdinand, a promising young center back, and George McCartney, who started every league game last season for West Ham at left back, to Sunderland just before the transfer deadline. He had wanted to keep both defenders but West Ham owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and his board allowed the sales to go through. Curbishley responded by handing in his resignation on Wednesday.

In a statement released via the League Managers’ Association (LMA), he insisted his position was made untenable by the breach of trust.

“I started my West Ham United career when I left school in 1974 and have remained a lifelong fan,” he said. “I have been incredibly proud to manage such a great club and my decision to resign has been very tough.

“The selection of players is critical to the job of the manager and I had an agreement with the club that I alone would determine the composition of the squad.

“However, the club continued to make significant player decisions without involving me. In the end such a breach of trust and confidence meant that I had no option but to leave.

“Nevertheless, I wish the club and the players every success in the future.”

Curbishley became manager of the club in December 2006, several months after leaving his long-time job at Charlton Athletic. During his time as manager, he lead West Ham out of relegation in the 2006/07 season with wins in seven of the team’s last nine Premier League matches, and finished tenth in the league the following season.

West Ham’s next league match is September 13th against West Bromwich Albion.

Who is getting Curbishley’s job?

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic, a former West Ham player, is the early favourite to replace Curbishley. Former boss Harry Redknapp has recently been linked with a return to Upton Park. Other names also said to be in the frame this afternoon include former Chelsea boss Avram Grant and ex-Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini.

William Hill offers tempting odds for Curbishley’s job.

S Bilic 3/1, H Redknapp 6/1, S Allardyce 8/1, S Pearce 10/1, L Van Gaal 12/1, G Hoddle 12/1, R Martinez 12/1, G Poyet 12/1, T Venables 14/1, P Di Canio 14/1, R Mancini 14/1, D Moyes 14/1, R Gullit 14/1.

Spread betting is any of various types of betting on the outcome of an event, where the pay-off is based on the accuracy of the bet, rather than a simple “win or lose” outcome, which is known as money-line betting. A spread is a range of outcomes, and the bet is whether the outcome will be above or below the spread.

Spread betting market has known a significant growth in the UK in recent years, with the number of gamblers heading towards one million. As with all gambling, however, spread betting carries a high level of risk.

In the UK, spread betting is regulated by the Financial Services Authority rather than the Gambling Commission.

Purpose

The general purpose of spread betting is to create an active market for both sides of a wager, even if the outcome of an event may appear a priori to be biased towards one side or the other. In a sporting event, for example, a strong team may be pitted against a historically weaker team. Persons betting on the event normally would be likely to favor the better team, to such an extent that there would be very few, if any, betting on the underdog that is team perceived to be worse.

The use of a “point spread” evens out the market towards an equal number of participants on each side of the wager. This allows a bookmaker to make a market by accepting wagers on both sides of the spread. The bookmaker charges a commission and acts as the counterparty for each participant. As long as the number of participants on each side is roughly equal, the bookmaker is unconcerned with the actual outcome; profits instead come from the commissions.

Examples

Spread betting can be easily explained through examples.

We will use the market of ‘corners’ in a football match as this is easy to relate to. This market is based on the total number of corners accumulated by both sides in a game.

In a soccer match the bookmaker believes that 10 or 11 corners will occur, thus the spread will be set at 10-11.

Example

Match: Arsenal vs. Bolton

Spread for corners: 10-11.

Buy Example

A gambler believes there will be more than 11 corners and “buys” $20/point at 11.

Profit: You were right. The final number of corners was 15, i.e. 4 more than 11, the number of corners you bought at. You win 4 x $20 = $80 (tax free)

Loss: You were wrong. The final number of corners was 8, i.e. 3 less than 11, the number of corners you bought at. You lose 3 x $20 = $60

Sell Example

You believe there will be less than 11 corners. So, you sell $20/point at 10.

Profit: You were right. The final number of corners was 8, i.e. 2 less than 10, the number of corners you sold at. You win 2 x $20 = $40 (tax free)

Loss: You were wrong. The final number of corners was 15, i.e. 5 more than 10, the number of corners you sold at. You lose 5 x $20 = $100

You will notice that ‘buy’ transactions are made at the top end of the spread and ’sell’ transactions are made at the bottom end.

Spread Betting may seem complex, but it is relatively easy to pick up. Good luck!