Weekend 11.–12. July: North London Derby

TOTAL SCORE 4W – 2L

Recap: Again, my bet just slipping by, by the thinnest of margins. I honestly did not expect Tottenham – Everton game to look like a friendly game where the highlight was the hugging of the coaches. Just a side note: I will not include JOKER’s in the total score counter as they are meant to be riskier. On the positive side the inaugural JOKER was correct as Burnley beat West Ham.

Personally, my football weekend is highlighted by the North London Derby between Tottenham and Arsenal on Sunday. For the game I am going with my Arsenal wiping out Tottenham. I hope I can make compelling enough argument, so it doesn’t sound like my Arsenal fan brain doing the betting. First, Tottenham are playing their third game of the week, while Arsenal got a few extra days of rest. Second, Tottenham are in pitiful form failing to get a single shot on goals against a poor Bournemouth side and even the game against Everton looking like a preseason friendly match. Arsenal have played two tough games against Leicester and Wolves and looked like a dominant team, excluding the late red card and goal by Leicester. Arsenal’s manager talked a lot about “killing” the enemy teams when you have them, and I am sure Arsenal are more than willing to show that against out bitter rivals. There is a small possibility that this energy overflows and Arsenal takes another pointless red card and that swings the game. Only difficulty is picking the bet to make. If you are feeling unsure then Both teams to Score is an ok bet with odds of 1,57 or little more risk that Arsenal scores 2 or more goals with 2,25 odds. For this weekend’s line I am picking the latter bet.

Second game for this weekend’s line I am picking a top game from the Italian Serie A with Juventus taking on Atalanta. I am going with over 2,5 goals in the game total. This has happened 4/5 last games the teams have played against each other and both teams are in great form coming into the game, so I will be hoping for fireworks.

Last game on the line I am stopping my picking on West Ham and will actually predict them to beat Norwich. Norwich is just out of it; they are not playing with any drive or real believe in staying in the Premier League. West Ham was a little unlucky not to get a draw in my last JOKER, but the good news was that West Ham got their best striker Haller back in that game and I believe the shaky Norwich defense can’t handle him. Only threat I see is that Norwich starts playing younger players who are fighting for better contracts or transfers elsewhere and they manage to put up a fight. Even with that I think West Ham players are good enough to get these important points no matter what Norwich team shows up.

Match	Bet	Odds
Norwich City - West Ham	2	2.02
Juventus - Atalanta	Over 2,5 goals	1,57
Tottenham - Arsenal	Arsenal over 1,5 goals	2.25
TOTAL		7,14

Odds are from Unibet on Monday 10.7.

This week I was looking at the odds for the weekend and two games popped to my eye as possible JOKER’s, first of which is Sheffield – Chelsea. I do see Chelsea as the favorite by something like 65-35, but the odds of 6,25 for Sheffield are too good to pass in my eyes. Sheffield is a good home team and they’ve played better game by game since the return of the Premier League. On top of this Chelsea does drop random games, so this could be one of those games.

Second game I noticed was the odds of Newcastle who are away against Watford. Odds of 4.75 are very good for Newcastle who are efficient at beating lower level teams. Only issue I have is that midweek Newcastle played without their best creative players Almiron and Saint-Maximin. If they do not play Newcastle are significantly weaker and then I see the game ending in a draw even in a low Watford win. So, I will wait out till the starting teams come out before the game to make this bet myself and if they do not play, I will skip the game entirely.

JOKER
Match	Bet	Odds
Sheffield United - Chelsea	1	6.25

Odds are from Unibet on Monday 10.7.

If Newcastle plays with Almiron and Saint-Maximin.

JOKER
Match	Bet	Odds
West Ham - Burnley	2	3.95

Odds are from Unibet on Monday 10.7.

Best of luck to you all and happy betting and watching!