Now I have presented my thoughts regarding Premier League’s top scorer for you. In this text, I have searched for some other interesting season bets to invest your money on. All the odds is picked from bwin online sportsbetting, and here is my mix of bettingtips and the odds that I choose between:

Premeier League 2010 / 2011 – to finish top 4

Odds:

FC Chelsea, odds: 1.02

Manchester United, odds: 1.12

Manchester City, odds: 1.50

FC Arsenal, odds: 1.55

FC Liverpool, odds: 2.25

Tottenham Hotspur, odds: 3.50

FC Everton, odds: 7.50

Aston Villa, odds: 9.00

This bet means four winners since there will be four teams that will end on top four. That is why the odds are so low compared to other bets. Manchester United and Chelsea will for sure end on top four, everything else would be a great surprise for me. However, at the same time they pay 1.02 and 1.12 in odds. If you want a “safe” bet this are defiantly two sure bets. However, I would not place my money on these since the teams are to big favourites. Maybe I could invest some money on Manchester United at 1.12 in odds but never on Chelsea.

My bettingtips on this bet is:

Manchester City to end on top four @ 1.50 in odds.

Manchester City is my outsider to win the Premier League this year after all their new players that they have bought. Mancini finished strongly last season after have preplaced Mark Hughes as manager and this year he have a even stronger squad to choose from. I feel that teams like Liverpool and Arsenal can find it hard to finish top four and if Manchester City does, at least one of Liverpool or Arsenal have to step aside. I find the odds 1.50 worth betting on here and pick Manchester City to end top four.

Which team will finish highest in the Premier League 2010 / 2011?

Manchester United, odds: 1.20

FC Liverpool, odds: 4.50

FC Everton, odds: 18.00

My bettingtips: Manchester United @ 1.20 in odds

As I mentioned above, Manchester united might was worth betting on to ending top four in the league. Then I find this bet way more worth betting on that top 4. Since I cannot see Everton ending top four, and since I find it hard for Liverpool to end top four this year either, I find 1.20 in odds on Manchester United to finish higher then Everton and Liverpool interesting.

Everton finished eighth in the league last year and Liverpool seventh. Manchester United finished second, only one point behind winning Chelsea. United where whole 22 points before Liverpool and 24 points ahead of Everton last year, and still it is Man United that has bought the most interesting player (Hernandez). Therefore, I almost see this bet as 20 % guaranteed return on investment later in spring even though you should not see betting as sure money.

Teams to be relegated from Premier League 2010 / 2011?

odds:

Blackpool, odds: 1.25

West Bromwich, odds: 1.80

Wolverhampton Wanderers, odds: 3.25

Wigan Athletic, odds: 3.25

Newcastle United, odds: 4.00

Bolton Wanderers, odds: 5.00

West Ham United, odds: 5.50

Blackburn Rovers, odds: 7.00

Stoke City, odds: 7.00

Birmingham City, odds: 7.00

Fulham, odds: 8.50

Sunderland, odds: 11.00

From this list I think that Sunderland, Fulham and Birmingham feels safe to not being relegated after this season. All of them have to strong teams. Stoke and Blackburn feels pretty strong, but I am not that sure over these teams as over the three I mentioned above. Stoke is living a lot on their strong home stats at Air Britannia, where they take lots of their points.

Looking down a bit on the list it is not strange that Blackpool is the biggest favourite to being relegated. According to me its too low odds to bet on @ 1.25. West Bromwich pays 1.80 in odds and that is too low according to me as well, especially since I think that they can avoid relegation this year. So my best bettingtips on which will be one of three teams to be relegated is:

Wigan Athletic @ 3.25 in odds.

Wigan had a tough season last year, and it will probably get even tougher this time since both West Bromwich and Newcastle has joined Premier League. I feel that over 3 times money back on Wigan to being relegated is valuable to bet on and that is what I bet on here.

Good Luck with your premier league betting

/Amrish

Now it would be obvious here that you would be betting without any clear indication of what the true odds should be as you do not know the relative numbers of different coloured balls in the bag. But now let us take this into another phase where a punter has done their homework and has found that out of those 20 balls……10 are red….4 are white…..2 are blue…..2 are green and 2 are black.

Now what this analysis has done is identify the likely winner which in this case is red as there are 2.5x the number of red balls than the next highest colour which is white. So if we had to bet on which colour would be likely to appear then the bet would need to be on red above any other colour. But in betting then this does us little use for the following important reason! The bookmakers are setting the prices and so you will probably be receiving smaller odds than the event actually happening.

If we look at what the true odds should be in this analogy then we simply convert the number of balls to a percentage and then to odds. There are ten red balls which equates to a 50% chance of red appearing…..50% in odds form is Even money. There are four white balls out of twenty which is 20%…..expressed as odds then this is 4/1. A brief summary of the remaining three colours shows that there are two of each which equate to 10% per ball and 10% in odds is 9/1.

So the true odds of red are Evens, white is 4/1 and the rest are 9/1 each. But what if we looked at the prices that a bookmaker was giving us and he was offering 4/6 on red? Suddenly it appears that a bet on red is not such a great proposition after all as the odds do not reflect the chances of red appearing. Continuing to bet on red at those odds would lead to long term losses. But what if the second favourite was being offered at odds of 6/1? This now represents value as even though the white ball is less likely to appear than the red, as a betting proposition then it is a far better bet as it has the potential for long term profits.

In these two texts that I will share with you my predictions for group-winners for group C and D and, the betting value compared to the odds, odds value, and some other interesting bets for these groups.

I will start to present all the odds for the group-winners and then give you my analyze for how I think it will end and which team is most worth betting on. Keep in mind that a potential winner and a team worth betting on necessary do not have to be the same country. After that, I will share some other interesting “special-bets” that I find worth betting on. The odds are picked from bwin-world cup odds.

Group C – Winner

England, odds: 1.30

USA, odds: 5.00

Slovenia, odds: 12.00

Algeria, odds: 17.00

My bettingtips: England to win @ 1.30 in odds

England is always one of the pre favorites in World cup and European Championship when it comes to football but they rarely manage to go far. However, this time I believe that they can go far thanks to their talented and tactical highly skilled manager, Fabio Capello.

England’s biggest problem the last couple of times has been that they have not been able to play as a team when they play against better nations. Nevertheless, this time they have the strong leader that they have been missing and he has managed to set up a tactic that fits both Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. Besides these two players England, have many good players in their squad both on their defense and on offence.

USA has a strong team this year as well and did it good in the Confederations Cup last summer in South Africa (even called pre World cup). Even though I think that they can be the underdog that manages to go far in this tourney, I do not think that they will be able to end before England in this group.

Neither Slovenia nor Algeria should have the strength to compete with England (or USA) when it comes to a world cup game. So my tips is that England will win this group and that USA will take the second place and follow England trough to the knock-out stage.

Other interesting bettingtips from group C:

How many goals will Algeria score in the group?

Over 2,5 goals, odds: 2.10 / Under 2,5 goals, odds: 1.65

My bettingtips: Under 2,5 goals @ 1.65 in odds

According to me, Algeria is the last team in this group. They are probably happy only to get the opportunity to play in this world cup since they where close to not even reach here. Algeria was forced to play an extra game in the African qualification against Egypt on neutral ground after have ended on the same point and same goal difference after the last group game.

When I have followed Algeria in the Africa’s cup of nation, they often try to play with focus on their defense and I cannot see that they will change that tactic in World cup.

My feeling is that Algeria will find it hard to score one goal per game in average, which would mean that I win on my bettingtips. I find 1.65 in odds as a good bet and recommend that to you.

How many goals will USA score in the group?

Over 3,5 goals, odds: 1.80 / Under 3,5 goals, odds: 1.95

My bettingtips: Over 3,5 goals @ 1.80 in odds

As I wrote in my group-analyze above, I have a feeling that USA can go far in this tournament and I believe that they will play an offensive football. They have improved their game much the last couple of years and are able to disturb most of the nations in this World Cup.

Last year, when they played the Confederations Cup, USA scored a lot and went whole the way to the final. My theory is that USA will beat at least Algeria and that they have good chances against Slovakia as well. To win on my bet they have to score minimum four goals in the group stage and that is possible for sure. If they manage to score two goals in one game and then one each in the rest of the games they will reach the four goal mark which would mean that my tips is right. And I defiantly think that they are able to score four – five goals in this group.

USA have many players that play either in some of the best leagues in Europe or are key players in their own league, Major Soccer League (MSL). And their manager, Bob Bradley, likes offensive tactic. The betting company where I pick my odds from, bwin, pays 1.80 in odds on my bet and that is enough to invest in.

Group D – Winner:

Germany, odds: 1.72

Serbia, odds: 4.50

Ghana, odds: 5.25

Australia, odds: 8.50

My bettingtips: Serbia to win the group @ 4.50 in odds

This is a tricky group that has no bad teams in the group. A real unlucky draw for all teams, especially for Australia because they “actually” is pretty good. But in this group I find it difficult for them to go trough. Germany is, and should be, the favourites in this group but I am not quite sure where the Germans stand right now. I have great respect for the Germans who often plays like a solid engine and have a strong collective as team. They go far in championship after championship, but they will not have it easy in this World cup.

Ghana has many young players in their team who are upcoming stars in Africa and they made a really strong effort in the African championships in January. But my opinion is that they are slightly too weak in this context. Therefore, Serbia will be the team that I choose to bet in as group winners. The differs in the odds between Serbia and Germany is too much for me to bet on Germany. I do not find any odds value on the Germans. However, I find 4.50 in odds on Serbia way more interesting from a betting perspective.

Other interesting bettingtips from group D:

Total goals to be scored in the group:

Over 14,5 goals, odds: 1.85 / Under 14,5 goals, odds: 1.85

My bettingtips: Under 14,5 goals @ 1.85 in odds

I find this bet as one of the best bettingtips in the long-term for World Cup. Because I find this group as very defensive and the probability that the total goals to be scored is 14 or less is very high. Serbia is defensively strong and has, during the last years, had their strongest link in their defense. Ghana is also a team that focuses most on their defense both when they play Africa’s Cup of nation and in World cup and friendlies. I find Ghana as one of the best teams in Africa if I only compare to the entire teams defense.

Australia has also been playing very defensively when it comes to matches against better teams and they often play 0 – 0 or 1 – 0 / 0 – 1 in these type of matches. That leaves only Germany to threat by bettingtips, and even if Germany have a stronger offence then the rest of the teams in this group, I don’t think that they are interested in going all of attack when the other teams plays so defensively.

With those thoughts in mind, I guess you all agree with me that this bet is one of the best. If I am going to loose on this bet it has to be scored at least 2,5 goals per game in average and I just can not see that happen. Therefore, I thank bwin for the odds at 1.85 on that the goal line will stand on 14 goals or less in this group.

Australia to go trough from the group to the knock out stage?

Yes, odds: 3.20 / No, odds 1.30

My Bettingtips: No @ 1.30 in odds

I have been writing a lot about that I have big respect for Germany and that they somehow always manage to go far in World Cup, and how I think that Serbia can win this group. Or at least that the odds that they pay is valuable to bet on. Of course, I even think that they have a chance to win the group, otherwise I would never bet on them as a group winner.

In addition, if any of those teams will collapse I am pretty sure that Ghana will be there and try to take a place in next round by going trough from the group. Ghana plays on their own continent and will probably have the best support from the supporters.

But I cannot see how Australia is going to end first or second in this group and go trough. The odds on Australia to go trough is 3.20 and that is not an odds that I would bet on. I am thinking on the other way, that Australia will end last in this group. And since I think so I find the odds at 1.30 in Australia to not go trough as a good bet even though the odds can feel a bit low. Australia went trough from last years World Cup, but to be honest they both played in a easier group back then and the most important thing, they had Guus Hiddink as manager. Hiddink is one of the three – four best tactical managers in the world and can help almost any team go far in championships. This year they only have an “okay” manager and that is probably not good enough.

Therefore, I choose to bet on Australia not to go trough as my last bet from these two groups.

Good luck with your world cup betting

Best wishes /Amrish

My bettingtips on the matches / games will be presented during the tourney, but before it starts, I will give you my best bettingtips on some of the long time bets like winners, top goal scorer, grope winners, to go trough and so on.

In these two texts, I will present my best tips on Top Goal Scorers and the Winners of whole World Cup. It would be too much info to present the odds of all the teams and players for you, so if you are interested to see where all the nations and players stand in odds I recommend you to visit a betting site. I will give you the best odds from bwin football world cup odds and will present a couple of potential winners and the odds for these teams / players. These odds and tips are either what I believe on or even some underdogs that pays too much according to the odds. Normally I only recommend you to bet on odds value but World Cup of football is special and very often the pre favours go far. Therefore, in some cases, it is “okey” to bet on picks and not only stare blind on value (but of course, the odds play a part in that as well).

I have about five options each for the Gold winner and top goal scorer and will start with my winner of the tournament and give you short analysis on why I bet as I do.

Winning the World cup of football 2010:

Argentina 7.00

England 8.00

Holland 11.00

USA 81.00

Argentina, odds: 7.00

Argentina for sure has the best attacking players in the world. Lionel Messi is obvious in the starting line, but behind him we have players like Gonzalo Higuain, Carlos Tevez, Sergio “Kün” Aguerro, Diego Milito and Martin Palermo and so on. I am sure there is non other team where a player like Milito would not be obvious in a start-up. But in Argentina’s squad he is probably only no 5 which is totally insane.

Even behind their attackers, they have world-class players in the squad and Argentina would probably be the biggest favourite to win world cup if it wasn’t because the controversial coach Maradona. Many experts think that Maradona will be their fall but I do not actually agree. I am sure that they can go all the way and win the gold medal, not thanks to Maradona, but because they have a strong team. They are my biggest favourites to win and a good bettingtips since they pay as much as 7.00 in odds.

England, odds: 8.00

Finally, this can be England’s year. Their supporter always claim that they are the best team in the world but this time I think that they can win World cup even without being the best team in the world. Fabio Capello is a great manager and with his tactical skills, you do not have to have the best squad. His biggest problem is who to put between the posts. They do not have an obvious goalkeeper, but I still think that England can go far. England pays 8.00 in odds and its worth a shot this time (I have never bet on England to win a world cup before, and since I wasn’t born 1966 I have spared money on that).

Holland, odds: 11.00

The concept “Total Football” is Holland’s own brandmark. They always play a fantastic football to watch. However, their biggest problem has always been that when it comes to quarterfinals or semi finals they cannot beat the tactical skilled teams like Italy, Germany or France.

I always hope for Holland to win because I love football and I belive that if they can show that their way of play is the best way even other nations and clubs will try to play on the same way.

This year they only have two potential top-scorers in the squad (Van Persie and Huntelaar), but they have a strong midfield and defensive line as well. So Holland can defiantly go whole the way to the finals and win world cup if they only can switch their attacking play to a more tactical play later in the tournament, 11.00 in odds is interesting and I recommend them aswell as a bettingtips.

USA, odds: 81.00

I just have to give you one bettingtips on a bigger underdog aswell and USA is a team that can go really far in world cup. They have built their “soccer” nation for a long time now and it seems that they can compete with the best teams soon.

Last year they played very well in the confederations cup and reached the finals. In addition, for their advantage it looks like many Americans will follow their team in South Africa this year, something that has been rare for them in world cups.

When I see that USA pays as much as 81.00 in odds, I just have to put a small bet on them.

Good Luck with picking your own world cup-betting winner

/Amrish

Here are all the matches and odds for group E – H. I will give you all the pre conditions for these groups as well as I did in the text above.

FC Liverpool 2.10 draw 3.30 Fiorentina 3.30

Olympique Lyon 1.16 draw 7.00 VSC Debreceni 13.00

FC Sevilla 1.38 draw 4.35 Glasgow Rangers 7.85

VfB Stuttgart 1.60 draw 3.75 Unirea Urziceni 5.25

Olympiakos Pireus 2.10 draw 3.00 FC Arsenal 3.65

Standard Liege 1.90 draw 3.40 AZ Alkmaar3.85

Dynamo Kiev 5.75 draw 3.55 FC Barcelona 1.60

Inter Milan 1.45 draw 4.00 Rubin Kazan 7.00

Here are all you need to know before you put your bets for these matches regarding the standings in the groups.

In group E it’s already decided that Fiorentina and Lyon will go trough. The only thing that isn’t sure yet is witch of these teams will win this group. Lyon has a big advantage since they have their last match against Debreceni at home, and Debreceni is still standing without any points. Liverpool will be third in this grope no matter how the last round ends.

Group F is more open. This is the only group in of all groups in Champions League where all the teams still have the chance to go trough to last 16. Barcelona is lead with 8 points, followed by Inter Milan and Rubin Kazan on 6 points each. At the moment Dynamo Kiev is last in this group, but if they manage to win with 2 – 0 or with 3 goals or more they will pass the former Champions in the table and go trough. So this is really an exiting group.

In group G Sevilla is trough for sure. Behind them Unirea and Stuttgart is fighting for the second place. Unirea, from Romania, holds that position at the moment. But both these teams will meat each other in the last round and that match will be played in Germany. Glasgow Rangers will end last in this group.

And finally Group H where Arsenal already have won the group. Olympiakos and Standard Liege are fighting for the second place. Standard goes trough if Olympiakos looses against Arsenal home and if Standard wins their last game against AZ at the same time. But if AZ wins the last game they will pass Standard and go to the European League.

Here is my best bet for Wednesday’s matches:

Standard Liege 1.90 draw 3.40 AZ Alkmaar3.85 – Home win @ 1.85

I am surprised over how bad AZ has been in the Champions League, and at the same time I am surprised over that Standard has been way better then I thought they would be.

For example Standard Liege lead with 2 – 0 against Arsenal in the first round, and even though Arsenal played with lots of youngsters I think that they would win easier. Finally they won with 2 – 3 as well, but as I said – Standard impressed on me.

Standard was even close to bring home one point from their away game against Olympiakos in Greece. It stood 1 – 1 late in the game and Olympiakos where a bit lucky since the match winning goal came on the third and final stoppage minute.

At the same time I had more expectations on AZ then they have proved. AZ from Alkmaar has three draws in their five games but all of them have come in their home games. So they are standing on two looses away and now I think that their third away loss is on its way.

And even the motivation is on Standards side, because to play for a place in Champions League’s last 16 and European league’s last 32 is a big difference. So I pick Standard as my best pick of these eight matches and it feels good.

Another potential bet on Wednesday:

Inter Milan 1.45 draw 4.00 Rubin Kazan 7.00 – Home win @ 1.45

Even though all the teams have the opportunity to go though from this group and all of the teams risk to not go trough I am pretty sure that Barcelona will be one of two teams that goes trough.

Even though they loose with the odd goal in their match against D Kiev in the last round they will go trough. But what that would mean for this game is that this can’t end draw. If Barcelona take at least one point in the last game against Dynamo Kiev, witch is mostly possible, one of these teams will go trough.

If Rubin Kazan wins this match they are trough and if Inter Milan wins they are trough. The interesting thing is what will happen if this match ends with a draw. Because if it ends 0 – 0 or 1 – 1 Inter Milan will go through, if it ends 2 – 2 or more Rubin Kazan will go trough. BUT do not forget that if this match ends with a draw and Dynamo Kiev win their last game against Barcelona both of them will go trough and both Inter Milan and Rubin Kazan is out.

And I am pretty sure that Inter won’t take that risk to be saved by Barcelona. Inter is the better team and should win this game since they have to home advantage. And as I mentioned when I wrote about AC Milan and Juventus, Italian teams have a great ability to go trough from these kinds of situations.

All the odds are picked from bwin-football-betting

Good luck with your sportsbetting

/Amrish

I am really looking forward to Chelsea vs Liverpool on Sunday, but even Monday’s game between Aston Villa vs Manchester City feels interesting.

Three out of four English teams that played Champions league this week won their matches (Arsenal home against Olympiakos 2 – 0, Chelsea away against Apoel 0 – 1, and Manchester United vs Wolfsburg 2 – 1).

The only team that lost was Liverpool. They went to Italy and Florens to play against Fiorentina and were totally out played. Fiorentina won a well deserved win with 2 – 0.

I will list all the matches that is played this round in Premier League with the odds from bwin football betting and then give you my best pick for the round:

Bolton 3.15 draw 3.25 Tottenham Hotspur 2.10

Burnley 2.20 draw 3.20 Birmingham City 3.00

Hull City 2.40 draw 3.15 Wigan Athletic 2.70

Wolverhampton 2.00 draw 3.30 Portsmouth 3.35

Manchester Utd 1.20 draw 5.50 Sunderland 11.50

FC Arsenal 1.25 draw 5.05 Blackburn Rovers 9.50

FC Everton 1.65 draw 3.40 Stoke City 4.90

West Ham 2.20 draw 3.20 Fulham 3.00

FC Chelsea 1.85 draw 3.20 FC Liverpool 4.00

Aston Villa 2.25 draw 3.30 Manchester City 2.80

My pick of the week is a multi-play with two matches:

Manchester United vs Sunderland, home win + Arsenal vs Blackburn, home win total odds: 1.50

I know that this isn’t an all too brave bet, but those who have followed my bets for a longer time knows that I usually don’t bet on the biggest favourites. But this time I really think that both these teams will take pretty easy wins and that’s why I think that 50 % profit is a pretty god payback.

Here’s my thought about these two games and why I pick them as my bets of this round:

Manchester United vs Sunderland

Manchester United has only lost one game so far and that lost came against Burnley, very surprisingly. Beside that they have won all their six matches. It’s very rare that Manchester united drops points against opponents like Sunderland home at Old Trafford.

Sunderland impressed on me with their 5 – 2 win against Wolverhampton last week, but I saw the match and it was way too big compared to how they played. Sunderland got two penalties and at least the first was a wrong decision from the ref. At the same time Wolves deserved go get one penalty that they never got

Man Utd played in Champions league on Wednesday and that might be the only reason why to not bet on them in this match, but they have lots of players to rotate on and I am pretty sure that Sir Alex Ferguson al ready has counted in that in his tactics.

I just can’t se how Manchester united can draw or loose this game and that’s why I pick this as my first pick out of two. With the prerequisite that we have they win at least 5 out of 6 matches like this.

Arsenal – Blackburn

Even Arsenal played Champions league this week. But that’s no excuse to not to win this match against Blackburn Rovers at home.

Blackburn won against Aston Villa last week after a penalty in the 90^th minute. But I am not so impressed with their performance this year either. Blackburn has lost some important key-players this summer and I think that they will fight in the bottom half of the table.

I saw Arsenals match against Olympiakos on Thursdays Champions league round and they really impressed on me. The score was only written 2 – 0, but seen to the chances that they created It would had been more like 6 or 7 – 0.

They totally mashed down the Greek side and Nikopolidis, goalkeeper in Olympiakos, probably played one of his best games ever. It was play against their goal through out the whole game and why it took over 70 min until Arsenal got their first goal is a riddle for me.

In the beginning of this season Arsenal had lots of injuries but now more and more players have come back and on the attacking side they are almost complete now. Arshavin is playing brilliant football at the moment and with players like Van Persie, Fabregas and Eduardo available I can’t se how Blackburn can bring any points home from this match. Even Rosicky is back as winger and now its only Walcott left.

Arsenal has soo many players that can make the difference in a game like this and if they produce half as many chances as they did against Olympiakos, I am pretty sure they will win.

And with that fact I bet Arsenal + Manchester United to a total odds of 1.50.

Best regards

/Amrish

Andrew Flintoff is back in the squad for the last test and his performance will be critical in the outcome of the match. We all saw the disastrous England performance without him losing by an innings which was further marred by allegations that Flintoff had declared himself fit before the fourth test only to be left out by the selectors. Jon Trott has been drafted into the squad as a batting option after good performances at county level, with selectors announcing that he may even start the test.

The Oval is a strong batting pitch which makes England’s task of obtaining twenty wickets of the Australian batters even more difficult. Bwin have priced the odds of the respective teams winning the toss and choosing to bat at 1.85, choosing to field is 19.00 further highlighting the fact the Oval is a batting wicket. If England does bat first they must have a strong innings or the match may be over early. Paul Collingwood must produce a better performance than he has managed so far in the Ashes with Ian Bell continuing his good play replacing Pietersen as a key batsman.

Michael Clarke for Australia has had an excellent series and England have repeatedly failed to quickly obtain his wicket. He has scored very well and his odds for man of the match look good at 15.00. Andrew Flintoff is available at 11.00, the captain Strauss and James Anderson at 15.00. There are plenty of markets that you can bet on for this match with betting available on the best batters, bowlers, how the first wicket will be obtained and so on. Check the markets for more information.

The three-way betting for the fifth test offers Australia at 2.55. The sheer quality of Australia’s batting makes a low score from them seem very unlikely, although we saw that when it works for England as in the second test collapses can happen to anyone. Unfortunately this match is massive and the Australians rarely play badly when it matters most. Their team is very experienced and England must play the game of their lives to push through victory from a team that only needs to draw. Getting a win over a team that does not need to win is difficult, but the players know what is required and after all is said and done it is down to them to bring the Ashes home.

It has been a great series of cricket but this will mean nothing if England cannot bounce back and win the Ashes for the first time since 2005. Despite the gloomy predictions from the experts England tend to do well with their backs against the wall and a heroic victory could be on the cards. There are certainly some major obstacles to overcome. Will it be too hot for Trott? Will Flintoff give us one last amazing performance or will Ponting spoil the party? Get your bets on and let’s find out whether we get a happy ending or not.

By Malcolm Clarke