SATURDAY 16th AUGUST

11am - Singapore Selection v Juventus  - 1.04 away
Standout stats

• for you early starters , Juventus were merciless against an Indonesian XI who scored first, albeit fleetingly. Expect that same against what is probably going to be a slightly stronger Singaporean side. 
• Juventus scored 8 then and are priced to repeat the dose. I don't know if there'll be any angle in a hatrick being scored?

1245pm - Celtic v Dundee Utd  - 1.48 home
Standout stats

• 0-2 and 3-1 for Celtic in 2014 head to heads against Dundee United.
• a comfortable 0-3 away win v St johnstone saw Celtic put their Champions League blip ( despite still being in the competition!!) to bed
• Dundee United beat Aberdeen 0-3 away and beat Motherwell 1-0 at home. 
• A slight pattern is emerging. Celtic's final goal was in the 84th minute, Dundee United's were in the 90th and 83rd minutes 

profitable in-play opportunities

• little to go on and both teams in rude health at the start of the season. Will the late goals continue? Perhaps chance a late goal if the match is a stalemate or if Dundee United are winning coming to the end of the match.
• Head to heads seem rather conclusive and suggest 2 goals minimum from Celtic. We'll see, as Dundee United look reasonable so far.

1245pm - Man Utd v Swansea  - 1.38 home

Standout stats

• new manager syndrome means researching Manchester United is difficult. How will Louis Van Seagull's reign characterise Man Utd?
• Last season, Swansea failed to beat any of the top 9 sides home and away, and even David Moyes couldn't feck that up!
• Expectation is for a United win, as they did the double last season. Swansea have little to shout about in the transfer window.

Profitable in-play opportunities

• a confident win for United who have looked like their old selves in pre-season. Although reading too much into that can be dangerous. I expect 2 goals at least from United and an ability to come from behind if Swansea score first.
• Note the United win against Valencia too, a play-til-the-end attitude which, if repeated, will allow us some nice late DRT trades!

130pm - Freie Turner v FC Koln  - 1.12 away

Standout stats

• Regionalliga v Bundesliga in the German Cup and no wonder the away side are so short. Remember that short prices equal goals ordinarily
• Only fellow Bundesliga teams have beaten Koln in the Cup of late so expect the away side to win, and convincingly. Anything other than a comfortable afternoon, well I'll let you know if you join me in the live chat.

2pm - Ural v Torpedo Moscow  - 1.8 home

• I hope you're noticing teams turning up with regularity. One such team is Torpedo Moscow, a new team to the Russian Premier league who I think could struggle. Ergo follow them for the season
• we are 3 matches into the season.Ural lost their first match 2-3, drew their 2nd 1-1 and lost their 3rd 1-2. All matches have been played at home and this is the 4th. The need for an early home win therefore gets greater.
• Torpedo have had no honeymoon period in their new league. 4-1 loss, 8-1 loss and a 1-1 draw with Amkar.

Profitable inplay opportunities

• 2 of the likely lesser lights in the Russian Premier league. Note how all matches this season, albeit only 6, have seen both sides score. Will this continue?
• All matches have seen at least a goal before halftime
• And neither team has won this season yet.
• It's a toughie to call as both teams are much of a muchness, so maybe faith in both teams scoring and laying Torpedo if Torpedo score first.

230pm - Bochum v Stuttgart  - 1.98 away

230pm - FC Astoria Walldorf v Hannover  - 1.22 away

230pm - Homburg v Mgladbach  - 1.23 away

230pm - SV Waldkirch v G Furth  - 1.08 away

230pm - Stuttgart Kickers v Dortmund  - 1.15 away

• 3 Liga v Bundesliga Dortmund, happy with a 2-0 win against bayern Munich in the Super Cup recently.
• the only side to have beaten Dortmund in this German Cup is, Bayern Munich.In recent matches , Dortmund have tended to win to nil, so unlikely we will see any DRT but you could try a correct score punt to nil

230pm - Viking v Sogndal  - 1.57 home
Standout stats

• this is a Norwegian top flight match
• 4 consecutive Viking wins in head to heads ended with a 1-0 Sogndal home win and a 0-0 last time out in July
• this is7th v 13th

Viking

• only 3 defeats all season
• have a real problem with draws.  8 draws in their last 13 matches is haemorraghing points
• no defeat in 5 matchs but 4 draws
• only 1 win in 7 home matches down to those draws
• have not beaten any team 12th and below at home

Sogndal

• no win in 6 overall and 6 away matches
• have only scored 2 goals in a single match in 1 of their last 8 matches
• only 1 away win 
• scored only a single goal away v top 9

Profitable in-play opportunities

• a messy match - 2 sides in less than solid form. One keeps drawing, the other can't score against teams in the top 9.
• Head to heads have seen a shift towards Sogndal.
• Viking are in the best recent form and that might be the angle in today? Favour Viking not losing ( which covers any draw?)
• As I say, messy stats and less than conclusive conclusions

230pm - Viktoria Koln v Hertha Berlin  - 1.47 away

3pm - Annan Ath v Queens Park  - 1.7 home

3pm - Blackpool v Blackburn  - 1.76 away

3pm - Bournemouth v Brentford  - 1.85 home

3pm - Bristol City v Colchester  - 1.69 home

3pm - Cardiff v Huddersfield  - 1.79 home

3pm - FC Halifax Town v Welling Utd  - 1.76 home

3pm - Forest Green v Alfreton Town  - 1.57 home

3pm - Fulham v Millwall  - 2.06 home

3pm - Gefle v Malmo FF  - 2.1 away

Standout stats

• Malmo were excellent mid week, coming from 0-2 down at halftime to win 3-2 for a perfect DRT on any number of levels.
• this is 9th v 1st and a surprise to see resurgent Malmo at over evens here.
• 2-0, 0-2, 2-0 at GEfle when Malmo meet. 2 to 1 in favour of Gefle.
• It must be said that Gefle have won only 1 of the last 5 head to heads.

Gefle

• current 3 match winning streak
• have scored in their last 7 matches overall
• have not won 2 consecutive matches this season ( won their last match)
• 3 consecutive home wins have been to nil
• have failed to score in only 4 matches this season
• all draws this season have been score draws
• it still remains though that Gefle have lost at home to 2nd, 4th and 5th and did beat 3rd 1-0.
• 4 of their 5 wins this season have come agianst bottom 4 sides.
• 5 0-0's at halftime at home

Malmo

• only 1 loss all season
• have scored and conceded in the last 5 matches
• note  - a Champions League match on the 19th August   - the "curse of the Champions League" to affect this earlier league match?
• have scored 2+ goals in 5 of their last 6 matches
• have scored in every match
• no 0-0 at halftime in 13 matches
• unbeaten away from home

Profitable in-play opportunities

• what a wierd market ! but then is the Champions League match on the 19th August the reason Malmo are not warm favourites. They certainly should be considering Gefle only seem able to beat the bottom 4 in the league.
• If the curse of the Champions League does not strike, Malmo are expected to score as they have done all season. 2+ goals could be on the cards.
• For those wanting value, lay any team in the league , when they have a Champions League match upcoming! Unscientific but it might yield a stand alone profit season long. That said, relying on Gefle is problematic. 
• If Malmo turn up, expect a goal at least before halftime, so lay any 0-0 halftime score as late as you dare

3pm - Hamilton v St Johnstone  - 2.66 away

3pm - Kidderminster v Dartford  - 1.67 home

3pm - Leicester v Everton  - 2.4 away

Standout stats

• these markets are strange. Has someone put something in the water? Everton finished 5th last season and are playing a newly promoted side.
• Yes, Everton lost 1-0 to leicester pre-season and Everton did not win a pre-season match, but come on!
• They have bought Romelu Lukaku for good measure and the guy is a class act. Their manager is a class act.

Profitable in-play opportunities

• I am afraid I cannot fathom the odds here. Everton are not in European competition, they have splashed out a few quid on a proven goalscorer and retain the vast majority of the players who took them 5th last season.
• leicester have bought Ullua from Brighton, erm and that's it. 
• It will be an interesting match for the live chat as I would obviously favour Everton here and therefore Lay Leicester if Leicester lead.

3pm - Livingston v Cowdenbeath  - 1.95 home

3pm   - QPR v Hull  - 2.58 home

Standout stats

• the odds tell you everything here. The market does not know who will win this match.
• Hull have enjoyed a little excursion into the Europa League, to some success, over the Summer.
• This is a tough match to quantify as QPR's form is all in the Championship and is not transferable to the Premiership.
• Hull were 4 points off relegation last season so can count themselves very lucky to still be here.
• Only 3 wins away from home for Hull in the Premiership does not augur well for any away match this season
• Hull have bought sparingly, nabbing Jelavic, Long, and Snodgrass, all with good Premiership experience.
• QPR have nabbed 2 Cardiff players in Caulker and Mutch, 2 players with Premiership experience.

Profitable in-play opportunities

• this is a tough match to call. Percentage wise, you would have to oppose Hull based solely on last year's away form in the Premiership.

3pm - Stoke v Aston Villa  - 1.97 home

Standout stats

• Stoke are a shade of odds on here in a tough clash to call against Aston Villa.
• This is 9th v 15th from last year
• Stoke only lost 3 home matches last season, 2 were 0-1 and 2 came against the top 6. 
• Aston Villa last season only won 4 matches home and away against the top 13 sides in the league.
• Last year , Villa lost 4-1 and 2-1 in head to heads.

Profitable in-play opportunities

• Last season's overall form favours the home side here.Stoke have very shrewdly bought Bojan who I think is a superb buy. The lad was a class act with Barcelona and with Ajax and I think will be a little perplexed with how he has ended up at Stoke. Maybe he likes Pottery.
• Peter Odemwingie is another eye catching swap signing , which could point to more goals for Stoke if he and Bojan click.
• Villa have Senderos, Joe Cole, Darren Bent, kevin Richardson and Cissokho from Valencia into their squad. Some very famous names, albeit wilting stars? 
• Live chat inplay chats will give us our cues here.

3pm - West Brom v Sunderland  - 2.3 home
Standout stats

• West Brom have won 4 of the last 5 head to heads and the last 3 meetings at their home ground
• West Brom have bought Ideye from Dinamo Kiev as their only eyecatching buy.Lescott is a free from Man City, and Wisdom from Liverpool are interesting additions
• Sunderland now have Rodwell in their ranks,and a smattering of others in, such as van Aanholt from Chelsea, Pantillimon from Man City and Jordi Gomez from Wigan
• Last season these 2 flirted with relegation.
• West Brom at home simply could not beat the top 9, but did win 4 against 10th 11th, 13th and 14th.They failed to win at home to 15th and lower.
• All bar one of Sunderland's away wins came against top 10 teams! They only won one away match against teams below them. How contrary!
• This is a match which really does not appeal. There are a lot of new signings. I want to see these teams after a few matches and in the meantime will trade based on inplay stats.

3pm - West Ham v Tottenham  - 2.08 away
Standout stats

• what an interesting set of head to heads. West Ham have won the last 3 encounters between these 2 ( 2 in the Premiership and one in the League cup) and have scored 2 goals in the last 2 home head to heads ( albeit losing 2-3 in 2013!)

West Ham

• West Ham have bought Valencia from Pachuca for £15 million. He must have some talent.Loan signees include Nocerino from Milan, Borriello from Roma and Jenkinson from Arsenal
• This is 13th v 6th from last year
• West Ham at home last year didn't draw against top 12 teams. They only won 3 of those.

Tottenham

• Tottenham away from home last season lost 4 of their 6 defeats against top 4 sides. West Ham and Norwich were the others who beat them away
• Little in the way of eye-catching transfer news 

Profitable in-play opportunities

• West Ham must be confident of getting something here if head to heads are anything to go by. Will they avoid a draw as they had last year against top 12 at home?
• The value here might lie in a lay of Spurs if they lead.

4pm - FC Brno v Ceske Budejovice  - 1.78 home

4pm - Paris St-G v SC Bastia  - 1.16 home
Standout stats
we have seen extreme examples this week from Estonia about how short odds equal goals.
The odds are spot on if based on head to heads which have seen PSG win 0-4, 3-1, 4-0, 0-3
A 2-2 draw for PSG and a 3-3 draw for Bastia on the opening matches of the season .
PSG though will be wanting their first win, and must get their first win. There are already 7 teams on 3 points this season
Bastia finished 10th last season. They failed to beat any top 6 side home or away last season. Away from home they conceded 4-3-2-2-4-3 against the top 6. As mentioned earlier, the numbers 3/4 fit in nicely with a quote of 1.14 about PSG
Profitable in-play opportunities
a nice DRT from PSG on the opening day of the season in a match in which Ibrahimovic was dominant. This is a must win really for PSG. PSG won all home matches last season bar 3 draws and a loss to Rennes and scored in all home matches last season.
Ibrahomovic and Cavani scored 30 home goals between them!

5pm - AaB v Esbjerg  - 2.42 home

5pm - IFK Mariehamn v HJK Helsinki  - 1.48 ( illiquid) away
Standout stats

• HJK are unbeaten in the last 8 head to heads, winning all bar a single draw.
• This is the Suomen Cup

IFK

• only 4 losses in their last 20 cup matches . Not sure of course the level of opponents
• 5 wins and a loss at home

HJK

• only 3 losses in 90 minutes in their last 23 Cup matches

5pm - Zenit St Petersburg v FC Ufa  - 1.2 home

Standout stats

• Villa Boas has got Zenit scoring goals.
• 0-4, 8-1 and 1-2 wins so far for Zenit this season.They have had 3-3-2 goals before halftime in matches. Will that continue?
• Ufa are new to the Premier League and Zenit showed little sentimentality in wiping the floor with other newcomers Torpedo Moscow.
• "Curse of the Champions league" - Zenit have a match against Standard Liege on the 20th August.
• 4 2-0 losses for Ufa this season, along with 2 1-0 wins. So what will it be today? If you think the curse of the Champions league is strong, then 0-1 to UFA fits the bill!

Profitable in-play opportunities

• Last season Zenit fell foul of the curse of the Champions League, I remember it well, but will they slip up this time against a newly promoted side? 
• 2-0 to Zenit or 0-1 to UFA, so says Ufa's scorelines this season!
• This may be a match for an insurance bet if UFA lead 0-1. 

530pm - PSV v Breda  - 1.25 home
Standout stats

• This is the Dutch Eredivisie season just beginning.
• In head to heads at PSV, PSV have won 3 matches to nil
• NAC are a little more competitive when PSV visit them

PSV

• a 1-3 win away at Willem II on the opening day of the season.was failry routine
• PSV were 4th last year, some 12 points away from 1st.
• PSV only lost to 2nd, 6th and 7th at home last season
• PSV only had 1 0-0 all season last season

Breda

• A 1-1 in their opening match of the season
• Breda were 15th last season so could be strugglers this season
• they failed to win any away match against 13th and higher last season

Profitable in-play opportunities

• PSV usually win home head to heads with NAC a little more competitive in head to heads at their patch. Will PSV continue to win head to heads at home to nil? 

6pm - Admira Wacker v Red Bull Salzburg  - 1.18 away
Standout stats

• In head to heads Admira have put up the occasional fight. 1-0 Salzburg, 3-1 Admira, 6-1 Salzburg and 2-3 Salzburg. That 2-3 in April 2014 saw a 90th minute winner for Red Bull
• the season is 4 matches in
• Admira are scoring and conceding , but not winning when they do, so back Red Bull if Admira score first.
• Where Admira have drawn 1-1 with 2 sides, Red Bull won 6-1 and 0-2 . Is this collateral form something we can use?
• Do remember that 1.18 equates to 3/4 goals minimum and a possible win to nil

6pm - SV Grodig v FC Wiener Neustadt  - 1.72 home

645pm - Twente v ADO Den Haag  - 1.39 home
Standout stats

• Twente have only lost 1 head to head with ADO Den Haag. The last 3 results were 1-3 Twente, 3-2 ADO and 1-1. The 3-2 was an 88th minute mugging by ADO.The 1-1 was an 82nd minute mugging by ADO! It seems Twente will lead at some stage in the match
• The theme of last minute mugging continues into this season as Twente needed an 88th minute equaliser away at Cambuur and ADO Den Haag were mugged by a 90th minute feyenoord winner.
• This suggests that this match will be tighter than the 1.39 quote for Twente suggests.
• This is 3rd v 9th from last year
• Twente were unbeaten at home last year, and ADO only won 4 away matches last season and could not beat the top 6 away
• As you can imagine, it's early doors in the Eredivisie. Twente are a tough team to trust ( ask last year's Live Chatters!! but they did come good against Cambuur. The value here would be in laying any team who might go 2-0 up, particularly Twente who have a habit recently of throwing away leads against ADO.
• Will the late goals continue, both the head to heads and both teams' matches this season?

7pm - Lorient v Nice  - 1.82 home

7pm - Rennes v Evian TG  - 1.89 home

7pm - Toulouse v Lyon  - 2.6 home

730pm - Longford v Galway FC  - 1.58 home

530pm - Arsenal v C Palace  - 1.26 home
Standout stats
that ole Pulis magic! But now he's gone! Palace were superb last season and a master class in how to defend.
Arsenal have splashed the cash this season on the likes of Chambers from Southampton, Debuchy from Newcastle and Sanchez from Barcelona.
Crystal Palace have got, erm, Campbell from Cardiff City for £1.1 million. What a contrast.
Arsenal were only beaten at home by Aston Villa last season in their opening match. Surely not another opening match howler?
6 2-0 scorelines at home last season is nearly a 1/3rd of all home matches.
Palace won only 3 matches against the top 10 home and away last season. Away from home they lost 9 of 10 matches, and conceded exactly 2 goals in 7 of those matches.
9 0-0's at halftime away from home last season suggested a Palace side who were very hard to break down, BUT who eventually capitulated.

Profitable in-play opportunities
it remains to be seen what an impact Sanchez has for Arsenal . 1.25 looks layable though incase that ultra defensive Palace continue to confound until well into the 2nd half. Maybe better to back 0-0 pre-match and hope it remains so until halftime. I cannot see Arsenal slipping up at home for a 2nd consecutive opening season match

730pm - Real Madrid v Fiorentina - 1.42 home

730pm - Sportfreunde Siegen v FSV Frankfurt  - 1.52 away

730pm - Viktoria Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt  - 1.28 away

745pm - Vitesse v Cambuur  - 1.57 home
Standout stats

• 3-0 and 4-3 to Cambuur in the last 2 head to heads in this Dutch top league. Note Vitesse scored 3 goals in both matches.
• Vitesse led 0-1 and 2-3 in th 4-3 loss
• the season has just begun
• Vitesse actually dominated shots on target and off target against Ajax but it is a telling story that they lost 4-1 , crap defence and crap finishing.
• Cambuur actually led against Twente for 88 minutes so that will have brought them immeasurable confidence
• this is 6th v 12th from last season
• Vitesse only lost 3 home matches last season against top 8 sides.They tended to score 3 (ish) against the rest at home
• Cambuur failed to win a single match away from home last season

profitable in-play opportunities

• that's a stat to take to the bank. Cambuur will end their away streak without winning soon, but when? Vitesse look strong enough at home. Vitesse might get 3 goals at home again if they sort out their finishing. As I said, they dominated the stats but not the scoreline against Ajax.
• I would favour Vitesse here. Note if Cambuur score first, delay. It took Twente a long time to equalise.

8pm - Hajduk Split v Zadar  - 1.26 home
Standout stats

• 3 wins and a 1-1 draw in the last 4 head to heads. 
• The odds suggest 3/4 goals from hajduk Split today
• Only 4 matches into the Croat season
• DLWW ( D=Draw, L=Loss, W=Win) for Hajduk in their 4 matches this season. They have scored and conceded in 3 of those 4 matches
• LWLD for Zadar in their 4 matches this season. The did lose 5-0 to Dinamo Zagreb.Zadar scored and conceded in 3 of their 4 matches
• Not much to go on. Faith in the odds for any DRT trades?