The Weekend Preview – Value Bets in the Premier League and Beyond (Part 1)

*All odds courtesy of William Hill and Sporting Bet*

Saturday, August 25 (Kick Off 12:45PM)

Swansea v West Ham

Swansea will be looking to build on their 5-0 demolition of QPR in Gameweek 1 as they take their season’s bow at the Liberty Stadium. They will be hoping for a repeat performance of last weekend, where the midfield guild of Michu and Jonathan De Guzman combined with the pace and trickery of Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge.

Expect West Ham to put up a better fight than their London counterparts though. Last season they were better on their travels than on home turf, and the Hammers are – technically - unbeaten in 10 games. They are compact, hard to break down, and will play mostly on the counter attack against the Swans.

The Verdict: We fancy Swansea will sneak a narrow win (21/10), and the odds for Under 1.5 Goals (23/10) look great value. This looks like a coupon buster though, so steer clear if you are plotting an accumulator.

Saturday, August 25 (Kick Off 3PM)

Aston Villa v Everton

Already there are grumbles of discontent at Villa Park, with a seeming lack of transfer activity thus far, as well as a poor run of form spanning back to the end of last season. The Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert will be pinning his hopes on fit again striker Darren Bent to fire his side into some kind of form.

Everton meanwhile will be on Cloud Nine following their hard-fought 1-0 win over Manchester United on Monday night. David Moyes has done what David Moyes always does – put together a squad that is tough, battle-hardened and hard to beat. They now have a potent goal threat too, in the shape of gangly Croat Nikica Jelavic.

The Verdict: We can imagine this game following a very similar pattern to the Swansea v West Ham game earlier in the day. This time though, we’re predicting an away win (29/20) but again we’re looking at a low-scoring affair, with Under 1.5 Goals priced at 21/10 with Sporting Bet.

Man Utd v Fulham 

Sir Alex Ferguson was left to rue his side’s lack of attacking threat in the loss at Goodison Park, which is ironic considering the wealth of attacking options at his disposal. Another concern is in defence, where injury continues to plague his side. 

Fortunately, his side have an exceptional record against Fulham at Old Trafford, who usually get a good spanking there. Martin Jol’s men come into this game though full of confidence, following their 5-0 rout of Norwich last time out.

The Verdict: United will be looking to bounce back from their Evertonian humbling, and with Sir Alex expected to pick both Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie in his starting eleven, things could get messy.

We really liked the look of Shinji Kagawa last week, the Japanese international looks tailor-made for the Premiership. He is 2/1 to Score Anytime with William Hill, and a final score of 3-1 is nicely priced at 10/1, which is worth a cheap single bet in its own right.

Norwich v QPR

What an interesting encounter this could be. Both teams got thumped 5-0 last week, so will have been working hard in training on tightening up their back lines (oooh matron!). QPR have had all hands on deck this week bringing in defensive reinforcements too, although at the time of writing only Ricardo Carvalho looks likely to be signed in time.

We do worry for Norwich a bit. They are a decent side at Carrow Road, which is probably due to the 20,000 East Anglians’ vocal support. But Second Season Syndrome can hit hard, particularly when a lack of fresh faces have been brought in.

The Verdict: We are backing an Away Win for Mark Hughes’s men, which is generously priced at 2/1 with SB. Whatever your predilection you can expect goals – and the 4-5 Goal Band (13/5) looks as enticing as a night on the tiles with Beyonce.

Stay tuned for Part 2 for our look at the best football betting value this weekend.