Weekend Football Fever

Fri, Aug 20, 2010

By James Cochrane, Neil Hubbard and Gary Emmerson

Weekend Banker

QPR V Scunthorpe
Queens Park Rangers have made a quick start to their championship campaign and there is no reason to believe they won’t make it three wins out of three when they hose Scunthorpe tomorrow. It has been a turbulent couple of years for Rangers since their big money takeover but with Neil Warnock in charge it comes as no surprise to see some stability and consistency. The men in blue and white seem to be playing free flowing football with confidence and they sit joint top of the table with a goal difference of +7. Scunthorpe have made a promising start so far and were unlucky not to pick up a point against Norwich. However, they still remain relegation candidates and they should struggle to contain QPR’s style of football.

Bettrends Advice
QPR – 1/2 (General)

Southampton v Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient travel to Southampton this weekend and their poor start looks set to continue. Southampton have not played since the opening day due to their last game being abandoned and despite the loss to Plymouth they are still strong favourites to take the league one crown. Leyton Orient have made a slow start to the season with two losses and look to be set for a tough afternoon. I won’t be backing the 4/9 about Southampton in a single but I will be backing Ricky Lambert to score first. The striker is set to make his first appearance of the season and the prolific hit-man is sure to be biting at the bit to get off the mark straight away.

Bettrends Advice
Ricky Lambert 1st Scorer – 4/1 (Coral)

Rotherham v Cheltenham
Mark Yates’ Cheltenham have belied their status as one of the favourites for the drop by taking 4pts from their opening two games but a trip to Rotherham is a tough fixture and Ronnie Moore’s men look the call. They too have started the season well, carrying on the form that carried them into the play-off final last year and after a solid performance away at Morecambe last weekend look solid 5/6 shots.

Bettrends Advice
Rotherham – 5/6 (general)

Southend v Port Vale
I don’t need to go on about the troubles Southend have faced of late but there have been drastic changes of late and it has shown in their first two games. They were lucky to come away with a point at home to fellow strugglers Stockport and did not have one shot on target in the one goal defeat away to Aldershot. Port Vale have started the season strongly and after narrowly missing out on the play-offs last year, it comes as no surprise. Vale were superb on the road last season and that looks to have been carried over after their win at Bury, they look the value at 9/5

Bettrends Advice
Port Vale – 9/5 (William Hill)

Hoffenheim v Weder Bremen
HOFFENHEIM look a big price to make a winning start to the Bundesliga season in Germany with a win with bet365 and Stan James offering 15/8 ahead of the opener with Werder Bremen. Third last season, Bremen have been weakened by the departure of playmaker Memut Ozil to Real Madrid while Hoffenheim have enjoyed a positive pre-season and look overpriced.

Bettrends Advice
Hoffenheim – 15/8 (Bet365, Stan James)

Bettrends Double
QPR
Southampton
Generally pays 1.17/1

Bettrends Treble
QPR
Southampton
Grimsby
Generally pays 2.3/1

Bettrends Four-fold
QPR
Southampton
Grimsby
Rotherham
Generally pays 4.7/1