Lamps 5-2 to be a Red

BETTING:

PRIDE of place this week has to go to Athletic following their stupendous victory at Nottingham Forest.

Brilliant stuff lads, and although you are still 1,500-1 to win the FA Cup, that won’t mean a thing when Liverpool visit Boundary Park for the fourth round.

I suspect a cold January day at Boundary Park is the last thing Liverpool’s highly-paid stars will relish, so the prospect of a close game is more realistic than the bookies will suggest.

For now, it’s pleasing to see our 16-1 FA Cup selection, Everton, down to 11-1 following Monday’s demolition of Cheltenham.

Chelsea and Manchester City dispute favouritism at 9-2, with United at 11-2, Tottenham 9-1, and Liverpool and Arsenal on the same price as Everton.

Talking of Chelsea, I just don’t understand why on earth they would want to get rid of Frank Lampard when he seems to score vital goals in every other game.

He’s no spring chicken at 34, but look at the contribution Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes made for Manchester United last season - and they are several years older.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Lampard ended up at Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson is an admirer and Lampard would supply goals and experience alongside some of the younger players.

The bookies are obviously thinking the same thing: United are 5-2 favourites to be Lampard’s next club.

Chelsea, you are making a huge mistake.



ENGLAND’S cricketers begin a five-match ODI series against India at Rajkot on Friday.

Having lost the recent Test series 2-1 and struggled since in ODIs against Pakistan, it’s a little surprising to see India as low as 4-7 to win this series.

That said, England will be without some key players, including Jimmy Anderson, Graeme Swann and Jonathan Trott, so you can see where the bookies are coming from.

Most odds-layers go 11-8 England, so William Hill’s 13-8 is extremely tempting.

Even better value, though, is the 3-1 for Alastair Cook to be top England run scorer in the first game.

This guy is a machine and was in good form in the last warm-up match yesterday.



ANDY Murray goes into the first tennis grand slam tournament of 2013 with confidence sky high following his victory in the US Open.

That breakthrough success was long overdue, but it could be the old buses syndrome – you wait ages for one and two or three roll up.

Murray is currently the second-best player in the world behind Novak Djokovic and is 11-4 second-favourite to win the Australian Open from Monday.

But Djokovic, at 5-4, simply has to be the call. With no Rafael Nadal in the tournament, his should be a simple run to the final — while Murray will probably face Roger Federer in the semis.



RECOMMENDATIONS: Alastair Cook to be top run scorer for England in first ODI v India, 3-1 (general); Novak Djokovic to win Australian Open, 5-4 (Skybet).