With the Christmas splurge coming home to roost on Boxing Day there could be a temptation to try to win back the money spent on unwanted gifts, a tree that dropped its needles on December 2nd and a turkey drier than the Sahara.
And the action in the Premier League could be that opportunity. Chiefly by betting the Big Four to do the biz in an acca whacker on the bookies.
Arsenal are at home to West Bromwich Albion. Chelsea are at home to Bournemouth. Manchester United are at home to Sunderland. And Manchester City travels to Hull. Surely all these matches are shoo-ins for the big boys?
But don’t do it. Despite these looking like absolute gimmes, we have written before about the record of the Big Four in accas. One almost always lets you down. This season – as in countless seasons before – it is a disastrous punting plan.
On the 11 occasions this season when you could bet all four (ie not when one is playing the other), you would have lost ten times. It’s extraordinary. Look at the details in our list below.
The acca this week pays around 3.10 which is very tempting indeed. But surely it’s more tempting to work out which team is most likely to come unstuck?
We like an improving Sunderland at Old Trafford and reckon there is a spot of value in them coming away with a point. It’s 6.85 with Unibet, 32Red and 888Sport.
Sunderland are beginning to show signs of improvement under David Moyes. Chiefly, they appear to be disciplined and organized. This is the polite way of saying that they are becoming effective at parking the bus.
But we do them a disservice. They were perhaps a little unfortunate that they didn’t take a point off Chelsea. And against United – a side who have struggled to break down teams at times – Moyes might just come up with a masterplan.
Acca Busters
Week 1: Arsenal lost to Liverpool
Week 2: Arsenal drew with Leicester
Week 3: Copped (Aug 29)
Week 4: n/a
Week 5: Chelsea lost to Liverpool, Man U lost to Watford
Week 6: n/a
Week 7: Man U drew with Stoke, Man City lost to Spurs
Week 8: Man City drew with Everton, Man United drew with Liverpool
Week 9: n/a
Week 10: Man Utd drew with Burnley,
Week 11: Man City drew with M’boro, Arsenal drew with Spurs
Week 12: n/a
Week 13: Man Utd drew with West Ham
Week 14: n/a
Week 15: Man City lost to Leicester
Week 16: Arsenal lost to Everton
The Sack Race
So Alan Pardew has got the bullet. We’ve been waiting for the gun to sound for some time, having talked him up as value to be the first to go. So who is next for the chop?
Bob Bradley is surely a dead man walking at Swansea, who are truly awful. But this is reflected in his price at 2.1 among Green Listed Bookmakers. The value, then, is elsewhere. Step forward Slaven Bilic at 10 with Paddy Power.
The Hammers are struggling and the owners could start to get twitchy as their form increasingly comes under the scanner. It would appear that Bilic has them playing with no plan whatsoever.
What is key are the fixtures. Swansea have some winnable games. Starting with West Ham on Boxing Day. But the Hammers have to go to Leicester after that followed by games against Man United and Man City. It is not inconceivable that they could get done in the last three. By then Bilic’s price would have halved.
Calculators
