The Week Ahead: Five 'must have' bets for the coming seven days

Editor
13 April 2015

Back Chizzy continue his great run when he faces Phil Taylor on Thursday

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The Grand National and The Masters have been and gone but there is still plenty of quality sporting action to look forward to this week, including the return of Test cricket and the Champions League. The B.B editors pick out the best five bets for the next seven days...

Elsewhere on Betting.Betfair

Champions League Tipsheet: Atletico have got Real Madrid's number and Porto can hold Bayern

The Punter's Masters De-Brief: Spieth was stunning but soft Augusta served up a damp squib

West Indies v England 1st Test Betting: Hosts to cause an early upset

1) Back West indies to beat England at 7.26/1
Monday, 15:00
Live on Sky Sports 2

With the World Cup fresh in the memory and the IPL extravaganza underway it's safe to say that this Test series has been a little under the radar - a Monday start certainly doesn't help - but that doesn't mean there isn't money to be made.

Backing the unreliable Windies isn't something I'd advocate too often but I agree with Ed Hawkins here - 6/1 against an undercooked England is too big to ignore.

As Ed notes, England's record in the first Test of an away series in the last ten years does not make for pretty reading. In 14 of them they have won once. And that was against Bangladesh. Otherwise they have lost nine.

With confidence at a low ebb in the England camp after a poor winter and plenty of quality in the home side's team despite the IPL absences, get on the Windies. DT

2) Back Liverpool to win to nil v Newcastle at 2.26/5
Monday, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports 1

Sky tends to turn up with its cameras when these two teams face up - hoping for a repeat of 1996 of course - but I think it's fairly safe to say we won't be getting a 4-3 thriller on this occasion.

Newcastle are in an atrocious run of form, losing four on the bounce - including an embarrassingly limp defeat at rivals Sunderland last time out - and the markets are expecting the run to continue, with Liverpool at just 1.422/5 to win.

We fully expect the Reds to do the business tonight but to get a bit of juice in the price, back them to win to nil at around 2.26/5. Prior to the 4-1 defeat at Arsenal, Brendan Rodgers' team had only let in seven goals in the whole of 2015 and even a patched-up defence should have no problems keeping out a Cisse-less Newcastle attack. DT

3) Back Both Teams to score in PSG v Barcelona at 1.84/5 or better
Wednesday, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports 1

We all saw what Paris St Germain are capable of across two legs when they put Chelsea to the sword despite being reduced to ten men somewhat harshly in the second leg at Stamford Bridge.

They'll be missing three of their most influential players in this first leg against Barcelona - David Luiz, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Verratti will all be absent - but, in a measure of how solid this team are at home, they haven't lost in Europe on their own patch since 2006.

That formidable record, combined with the fact that Barcelona have only kept four clean sheets in their last ten in the league (largely against teams of inferior ability and personnel) means that PSG should be at least good for a goal, and so Both Teams to Score at around 1.8 looks a pretty solid bet if we assume that Barcelona will score because they always do. Luis Enrique's men have scored 20 in their last seven league games and notched 15 in their Champions League group.

This is actually a difficult game to call in terms of who progresses but the amount of attacking quality on display should at least guarantee us goals. LM

4) Back Russell Knox for a Top 10 Finish in the RBC Heritage at 7.06/1 or better
Thursday
Live on Sky Sports

Russell Knox finished ninth on his RBC Heritage debut in 2014 and the in-form Scotsman looks a nice price to repeat that top 10 finish on his return to tour action.

The 29-year-old has twice picked up top five finishes in 2015 including at the wind affected Honda Classic and this short but accurate hitter with a sharp short game looks primed to enjoy the challenge at Hilton Head where length off the tee offers no real advantage.

Knox missed out on last week's Masters so will arrive fresher than a few at the top of the betting and should be in the mood to go close again. JD

5) Back Dave Chisnall to beat Phil Taylor at 3.211/5 or better
Thursday, 19:00
Live on Sky Sports 1

In a moment of weakness, we foolishly decided to back against Dave 'friend of the Five Bets column' Chisnall last week only for him to take both Adrian Lewis and James Wade to pieces in the same night.

Chizzy will go into Thursday's clash with Phil Taylor in hugely confident mood having already beaten the Power this campaign, while the 16-times world champion was dismantled by Raymond van Barneveld last week.

We have learnt our lesson - back Chisnall at a juicy price to continue his dream run. DT

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