Luke The Layman / Luke 'The Layman' Moore / 21 March 2012 /

Juventus put in a five-star display in scoring a handful past hapless Fiorentina to eat into Luke's week one profits. But the show must go on and a Betfair Multiple involving the diminutive Leon Britton's Swansea City is up next for our man.

Wow, that went well. Back to reality with a bump after a win in my first week as Fiorentina showed all the fight, discipline and desire of an absent, alcoholic father. It was almost like they didn't even know I had £20 riding on them winning.

In all fairness, while I think the rationale for backing them was sound in places, Lady Luck obviously had somewhere else to be on Saturday. A man was sent off early on, Stevan Jovetic was ruled out with injury and Andrea Pirlo performed yet another Superman impression, all of which put paid to any ambitions I had of that bet coming off. The glossy-haired Adonis completed 139 of the 143 passes he attempted and again ran the show, much like he has all season. Oh well, lesson learnt: Never bet against l'architetto.

One thing that was very touching though was the unwavering, relentless mockery and disdain that my tip attracted across the board. From the darkest recesses of Twitter to the dizzying heights of Serie A experts James' Horncastle and Richardson on the country's second best football podcast, all were absolutely delighted with my outrageous punt and couldn't wait to stick the boot in. It was like I had predicted Joey Barton to win Sports Personality of the Year award or something. And, looking back on it, I might as well have done. That'll teach me for saying I'm available for heckling, won't it?

But, on the positive side, it could have been worse. At least I didn't decide to sell Juve goals on the old spread markets. And after two weeks I'm still in profit. Plus, having had my fingers burnt will provide me with valuable experience for the rest of this project. I've learnt my lesson and that's why, this week, I'll be backing Hannover to win at Bayern Munich at a price of [19.5].

Ho ho.

No, I'm going to try and be slightly more sensible this time out, but I'm still looking to make it interesting and really get the most value out of my money. Not to mention a bit of fun along the way. To that end, what's better than betting on one game? That's right, betting on three games. Hold on to your hats because I'm going for a treble via the Third Wonder of the betting world that is the Betfair Multiple.

I've already shown I have absolutely no skill at picking games in Italy, so let's see if I can also prove the same is the case in Spain. First up, I think Malaga will beat Rayo Vallecano at home. Vallecano have had an excellent time of it overall this season after promotion, but they're horribly inconsistent and Malaga have only lost at home to Madrid and Barca so far. Santi Cazorla and the boys will do the business for me here.

Second of my three is Swansea to beat Everton. Everton don't score anywhere near enough goals, especially away from home and the Swans have their tails up at the moment after three wins on the spin. Confidence will be sky high for Brendan Rogers' team of dwarfs and that Joe Allen/Leon Britton midfield base can pass teams to the verge of insanity. Last week, the Fulham midfield were chasing about with all the grace of a pack of dogs bounding after a tennis ball in the park.

And finally, I fancy Reading to beat Blackpool. I've said in earlier columns that Championship games are devilishly hard to call, but Reading are in absolutely staggering form. Even though they had a blip against Peterborough this week, the last time they lost before then was the middle of January. They should have too much for Ian Holloway's men.

Week 3

Treble: Malaga, Swansea, Reading

£10

Potential Returns £59.10 (before commission)

Balance: £97.93

So, it's week three and I'm making three bets. It's the magic number, isn't it?

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