NO NEED TO PANIC

Latics have more than enough to avoid drop, say bookmakers
GOAL-SHY Athletic may have fallen from a League One play-off place to a precarious spot just above the relegation zone, but the bookies reckon they possess more than enough quality to avoid relegation.

Paul Dickov’s men are as big as 11-1 to fall through the relegation trapdoor, so it is to be hoped the bookies have got it right,

As for the Premier League, Manchester United remain 8-15 favourites despite failing to impress everyone.

The Reds’ main rivals, Arsenal, have stuttered in recent matches and can be backed at 100-30, while Chelsea’s steady improvement has seen them make significant headway and prompt a cut in their title odds to 11-2. Manchester City are next-best at 66-1.

City and United will go head to head in the FA Cup semi-finals next month and the winners will be hot favourites to lift the trophy. United are 11-10, with City 9-4, Bolton Wanderers 6-1 and Stoke City 7s.



ENGLAND’S weary cricketers were a bitter disappointment in the World Cup, but Test-match action remains their forte and they are strongly fancied by the odds-layers to follow up their winter Ashes success with summer series victories over Sri Lanka and India.
Home advantage is expected to prove crucial, with neither of the sub-continent sides expected to be suited to the swing and seam normally associated with English conditions.

England are 4-9 to beat Sri Lanka (6-1), with the draw at 7-2.

Andrew Strauss, although likely to lose the one-day captaincy, is sure to lead the team into Test battle and his side are 10-11 to see off India (12-5) with the draw rated an 11-4 chance.


IT’S just over a week to the Masters, golf’s first major of the season, and the bookies are out to get Tiger Woods.
It is almost inconceivable that the former World No. 1 and Augusta specialist should be as big as 17-2 for his favourite tournament, but such has been his rapid fall from the top that he might even start a double-figure price should his many backers lose faith in him. More of that in our special Masters preview next week.

Woods will not be in action in this weekend’s Shell Houston Open which has America’s Matt Kuchar and England’s Lee Westwood disputing favouritism at 14-1.

The bookies do not make too many errors when pricing up these events, but one player whom they might have been a little generous with is Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen.

The South African won in runaway fashion at St Andrews and subsequent performances, including victory in this season’s Africa Open, suggest that last season’s major success was no fluke.

Oosthuizen has shown glimpses of form in America, so an each-way bet on him at 80-1 may seem a shrewd move come Sunday night.


RECOMMENDATION: Louis Oosthuizen, each-way, Shell Houston Open, 80-1 (Skybet, Sporting Bet).