Ben Davies / Ben Davies / 07 January 2010 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet View Market

Frustrated at a lack of action, The Notts County midfielder has been perfecting his serve and volley. Meanwhile, a busy schedule means the squad will be stretched to its limit over the coming months...

"Although Birmingham are on a great run I am going for a draw at half time at [2.28] and Manchester United to win at full time at [1.66]."

With the potponement of more games, it's been a frustrating start to the New Year at Notts County with the postponement of yet more games. Further snow and frost this week means our home game against Macclesfield Town could fall foul to the weather as well. It is very frustrating for a footballer to have games called off. All of your preparation goes to waste and, having worked hard all week, there is nothing to look forward to on Saturday.

We have not been able to train on grass now for nearly a month and have been restricted to astro-turf and indoor facilities. However, we have been making the most of a very bad situation and our Fitness Coach, Marcus Svensson, has been working overtime to make sure that we stay in shape by putting us through all sorts of gruelling exercises on various pieces of gym equipment.

Having been at the gym a lot due to the freezing conditions it has given me the chance to work on my tennis back-hand a fair bit. I have never played so much tennis as I have over the last few weeks and some of the lads are getting really in to it. I have witnessed two of our players buying professional rackets and having their strings tightened up so they have an extra edge over the rest of us. Our Midfielder, Johnnie Jackson, is probably the pick of a poor bunch and has got an unbelievably fast serve. Who knows, if the weather stays the same you might see him competing at Wimbledon this summer!

One thing the weather has done is give us a major fixture backlog. We will now be playing Saturday and Tuesday for the rest of the season. This will test our squad to the maximum but it will be the same for most other teams. It has been like having a winter break and has enabled us to have a bit of a rest in preparation for forthcoming fixtures. Sometimes it is not such a bad thing to have a couple of games in hand on teams as it gives you a chance to see exactly how many points you need to put you where you want to be.

I have been able to watch a lot of football lately and this Sunday I watched the Old Firm derby between Celtic and Rangers. I know the rivalry is immense because I've been to a game at Celtic Park and the atmosphere is very special. The hatred between the two sets of fans is as strong as you get in football. After the game the topic of conversation was whether the two teams should join the Premier League. Call me old fashioned, but for me this should never happen. However, if they were to join in to the Premier League it would be great to see the level of support that their fans would give both at home and away games and it would be interesting to see where they would finish. With their current squads, I think both clubs would finish just above mid-table.

I was tempted this week to not predict a score from a game, but instead to predict how many games will actually be on. I decided against the idea though and I am going to look at Birmingham City v Manchester United. Being from Birmingham, it is good to see the Blues doing so well, but as I am an Aston Villa fan it is not so impressive. The Blues have some very good players and it is great to see the two centre halves Rodger Johnson and Scott Dann doing so well. Both of these players have worked their way up from the lower leagues and were both playing for League Two clubs not so long ago.

Seb Larsson is my favourite Birmingham player. His set piece delivery is excellent. I played against the Blues at St Andrews a couple of years ago and it is a tight compact ground where the fans get behind their team. However, after Manchester United's defeat to Leeds I expect them to bounce back with a good result. Although Birmingham are on a great run I am going for a draw at half time at [2.28] and Manchester United to win at full time at [1.66].

Happy New Year to all of you!

Tags: Arsenal, Ben Davies, Birmingham City, Manchester United, Notts County, Premier League football betting odds