Monte's Multiple: It's take 15 for our man as he tries to achieve three winners in one bet, come on Monte!

Monte's Multiple / Jaymes Monte / 03 March 2009 / Leave a Comment

What can be said here that hasn't been said before!? Not a lot if truth be told. Barney won his match rather unconvincingly and there was definitely value in laying him at [1.8] - he traded at [3.0] after the first two legs. Hull needed a goal that clearly wasn't over the line to secure victory over Sheffield United and the fourth test between West Indies and England was played on a wicket more like a road meaning in petered out into a draw.

Bet One: Football - Premier League
Three quarters of the way through the 2008/09 Premier League season, and it's do or die for a lot of clubs. Although any team with more than 30 points at this stage will be quietly confident of getting to the magic 40 and securing their Premier League status in doing so. With seventh place West Ham only ten points clear of the drop zone it is far from inconceivable that any three of 14 clubs could be relegated.

Fulham are ninth in the table with 34 points on the board, and a staggering 27 of them were earned at Craven Cottage. They have made their home patch a fortress; losing just one game there this season and only champions elect Manchester United can boast a better home record. Even striker Bobby Zamora has started finding the back of the net, for that alone, manager Roy Hodgson should be commended.

Their opponents this week are Hull who I have commented on frequently in previous weeks. After successive 2-1 defeats against fellow relegation candidates Tottenham and Blackburn last week they now have a record which shows just one win in 17. Phil Brown's post-match interviews now sound like a broken record, unfortunately that record is more Milli Vanilli's All or Nothing than The Beatles' Revolver and sections of the Humberside faithful have started to turn too. A chorus of boos echoed around the stadium when a visibly upset Geovanni was substituted by Brown at the weekend.

Fulham can be backed at [1.75] this week and that looks extremely good value from where I'm sitting.
Selection: Back Fulham @ [1.75]

Bet Two: Darts - Premier League
Although it wouldn't be fair to say Phil Taylor has been struggling in the Premier League this year, he certainly hasn't been as impressive and dominant thus far. In week two, had Jelle Klaasen been in any sort of form he could have taken a couple of the early legs and made more than a match of it. Week three saw Terry Jenkins claim a well deserved draw after being 6-4 up at one stage and last Thursday James Wade recorded his second Premier League victory over 'The Power'. Taylor lost an unprecedented seven legs in a row to go down 8-4 to the world number two and lose his first game in 26 outings.

Whilst Taylor has been a little out of sorts, one man has been powering through his matches with great finesse, flair and authority, dominating games from start to finish. More unexpected is that it is not the world number two James Wade or Taylor's biggest foe of recent years Raymond van Barneveld who is stealing the limelight. Rather, it is Premier League debutant Mervyn King who has lost just eight legs whilst recording four victories who sits top of the Premier League table.

This week the two come head-to-head in a mouth watering clash. It would be no big surprise to see Taylor come back from defeat against Wade and blitz his upcoming opponent as he has in the past. However, I think there is value in taking on the Power at [1.35] given his recent results and performances. This week's darting bet is something I never thought I would advocate - lay Phil Taylor!
Selection: Lay Phil Taylor @ [1.35]

Bet Three: Cricket - South Africa v Australia - Second Test
The battle of cricket's top two ranked test nations took another twist in Johannesburg as Australia re-gained the initiative taking a 1-0 series lead with a 162 run win over their hosts.

It was the perfect response from Ricky Ponting and his relatively inexperienced side - the Australian team included three debutants - after losing test series in India and at home to South Africa in recent months. One of those debutants was Marcus North who got his test career off to a perfect start with a century in his first innings at the highest level.

Ben Hilfenhaus was the debutant bowler in the side; he took three wickets in the match. He is part of a four man strong seam attack which man of the match winner Mitchell Johnson has described as a very exciting group which has started to click as a unit.

Australia have now won the last two test matches between the sides and go into this one with the psychological advantage as a result. With rain forecast in Durban for the weekend it looks wise to keep The Draw on side and we'll do so with a lay of South Africa for our final selection.
Selection: Lay South Africa @ [3.0].