Blades in the running to make the jump
Peterborough a stepping stone for visitors
WE wait weeks for Manchester City to drop points and as soon as they do the Premier League disappears for weeks.
International football takes over this week, at least in the Americas and Africa it does. Then next weekend is the FA Cup, although at least Burnley and Watford are in action.
The battle to reach the Premier League carries on though and today Sheffield United can get their promotion bid further back on track with a win at struggling Peterborough.
You can get Evens about the Blades and that seems a really good price given that the hosts are in the relegation zone and Sheffield United are decent on the road.
Fulham are absolutely flying at the moment, with goals going in left, right and centre and they will have 100 goals by the time the season ends.
They host Blackpool at Craven Cottage and I would expect a comfortable home win. At 12-5 Fulham to win at -2 on the handicap looks like a decent bet to me.
Down League 2 we have a battle of the Rovers, Tranmere hosting Forest Green which happens to be second against first.
Forest Green look to be running away with the division but Tranmere have gone big in the January transfer window, with a number of exciting transfers, including Irishman Lee O’Connor.
Hotting
The Scottish Premiership is still on this weekend and the battle between Rangers and Celtic is really hotting up. Both should get wins on the board today to keep the lead for the Gers at the top at four, but the Bhoys can cut that to one on Wednesday when the two meet at Celtic Park.
Rangers are at Ross County in the early game today and I reckon they should win in a workmanlike fashion. A 2-0 win is 5-2 and a 2-1 victory is priced at 7-1.
Celtic host a Dundee United side that have performed well. I’ll take Kyogo Fu
have performed well. I’ll take Kyogo Furuhashi to score first at 12-5.
As for the big one on Wednesday, I think the momentum is with Celtic at the moment and spurred on by a home crowd they can get a vital win at 13-10.
We’re down to four in the race for the Super Bowl and I still believe that Kansas City Chiefs are going to win the w hole thing, even if Buffalo did run them might close last weekend.
The advantage of the home draw for the top seed in each Division will help them, though and that makes the visit Cincinnati Bengals much more manageable than if they were going to Ohio.
Patrick Mahomes is a wonderful quarterback, every bit as good as a Messi or Ronaldo — a genuine superstar who continually amazes with the things he can do.
The Bengals have their own wizard orchestrating their offense in Joe Burrow, but he will find himself outmatched here.
I think that the 11-10 for the Chiefs with a -8 start is not stretching too far — if they get on top then they might just overwhelm their opponents.
It is 11-4 for Mahomes to get a touchdown in the game and I will take that bet as well.
That is the earlier game tomorrow evening and if you have the stamina, it is followed by the NFC Divisional game between Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers were only third in their division, which the Rams won, although they lost twice to San Francisco in the process.
This is a close one to call, the Rams know that if they win, they will be back at home for the Super Bowl itself, whereas the 49ers have those two wins over tomorrow’s rivals in their back pocket.
My instinct is that the Rams will win but the safer bet is the 10-11 for the 49ers with a +3.5 start. It should be a great game.
Finally, I am going to have a look at the Six Nations overall odds, which stats next Saturday and you can make a case for any one of four teams to win it.
Beyond that you can probably make a case for Scotland beating any of the four contenders, though the Scots won’t win the Championship.
You can definitely make a case for Italy to be relegated from the Six Nations — they will be when Germany are strong enough, which won’t be too far away — but they are fodder again this year.
At best current prices, France are 6-4, both England and Ireland are 3-1 while you can get Wales are 10-1 in places,despite a decent autumn where they beat Australia and had a controversial loss to South Africa.
Ireland had an excellent autumn, topped off by the victory over New Zealand.
However, France also beat the All Blacks and I think it is Les Bleus who will get their first title since 2010.
A better bet than France to win the title is the 11-4 for Ireland to win the Triple Crown. They travel to Twickenham but won’t be