Monte's Multiple / Jaymes Monte / 24 November 2009 /

Jaymes Monte finds himself siding with a trio of British selections for this week's midweek treble....

Bet 1: Football - Champions League

Despite Michel Platini's best efforts there are still a number of 'dead rubber' groups across the Champions League after just four games. Lyon and Fiorentina are all but already qualified from Group E which includes Liverpool, and Chelsea and Porto have mathematically guaranteed their progression from Group D.

However, the result of Wednesday night's clash between Chelsea and Porto will effectively decide who finishes top and who finishes second in that group. I am a firm believer in the theory that winning is a habit and it is certainly becoming habitual for Chelsea under Carlo Ancelotti - they have now won nine of their last ten games in all competition.

Conversely, Porto have faltered a little of late in their domestic campaign picking up just one point from their last two outings and slipping to third in the table. Although there may not be a huge deal of significance attached to this game I think the [2.6] on offer for Chelsea to win is too good to turn down. Ancelotti knows the importance of maintaining the winning mentality within the camp and even if he elects to rest a few players they should have enough to ensure victory.

Selection: Back Chelsea to beat Porto @ [2.6]

Bet 2: Tennis - ATP Tour Finals

It is fast becoming more than arguable that Roger Federer's grip on men's tennis is slowly diminishing. Defeat to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Swiss Indoors in Basel was followed by an unprecedented second round exit to Julien Benneteau in the Paris Masters.

There certainly isn't a case to suggest that he is a spent force, but at present he definitely isn't as dominant as he once was. It may be the fact that fatigue has set in at the end of a long hard season, or maybe the challenges of fatherhood are proving detrimental to his game. Whatever the reason, the door has been left ajar for the chasing pack.

Federer faces Andy Murray on Tuesday night and amazingly the Scot now boasts a 6-3 head to head advantage over the World number one. Rarely do matches between these two not go the full distance so don't be expecting to collect early but I fancy the revitalised Murray to improve that 6-3 advantage here.

Selection: Back Murray to beat Federer @ [2.0]

Bet 3: Cricket - South Africa v England, 2nd ODI

Writing off England's limited over credentials seems to be a popular craze at the minute and so firmly engrained is their erratic nature that it is hardly surprising. They can go from World beaters to laughing stock over night both individually and as a team, and perhaps the most baffling statistic in World cricket, if not World sport, is that they have now beaten South Africa six times in a row in 50 over cricket.

Inspired captaincy from Andrew Strauss, a master class in batting from Paul Collingwood and improbable bowling figures from Jonathan Trott was the key to success in Centurion on Sunday. Meaning the tourists now hold an unlikely 1-0 lead in the series, whether they can see that lead through is a matter of conjecture.

If writing off England is becoming a popular pastime then it is even easier to dismiss last week's win as another fluke and predict a return to logicality this Friday. However, although the market is giving England more respect now by pricing them up at [2.6] I feel that they still deserve a bit more. Consistency is not a word that is synonymous with England and that offers hope, they sporadically display signs that they are not as inherently bad as we sometimes think and for that reason it is worth taking a chance when they are available at anything bigger than [2.4].

Selection: Back England to beat South Africa @ [2.6] in the 3rd ODI

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