Patience the key in 2018

Ihave taken a cautious approach to betting in 2018 – and it is probably just as well as on my current form I could probably not stop a runaway train, let alone an oddson shot.

Chelsea and Leicester met at Stamford Bridge in the first English Premier League match of the weekend and after studying some form my bet for the game was on both teams to score at 19/20 or 0.95/1. Leicester had scored on the road in their previous seven matches and Chelsea would surely find a way through the visitor’s defence – or so I thought.

There are not many boring goalless draws in the EPL but this was one of them. In the second half I changed channels and watched the cricket, hoping I would switch back to see there had been a goal. I was left disappointed.

I managed to win a bit on the Champions Cup rugby, thanks to some fine contributions from some of the northern hemisphere, based posters on the Goodforthegame forum and heading into Sunday evening I was slightly up for the weekend.

The game on everybody’s lips was Liverpool at home to the unbeaten Manchester City. I expected goals but as I could not watch the first 45 minutes I didn’t get involved. I was able to watch the second half though and decided to back Manchester City to win at 15/10. They had won all of their away matches against the top six sides this season.

Things looked good initially and City hit the crossbar early. What followed though was an absolute master class in finishing by Liverpool. In the space of a few minutes they raced into a 4-1 lead. City pulled it back to 4-3 and nearly equalised in injury time but my bet was done.

The quality of the match was such that I almost didn’t mind losing. A fellow forum poster, Southpaw, had backed Liverpool to win 4-2 at 59/1. That final City goal must have absolutely broken him although he did manage to take some in-running cover to at least ensure a profit on the game.

Brent Graham is a sports betting blogger at

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