Monte's Multiple / Jaymes Monte / 11 November 2008 / 1

A 'muggy acca', a 'daft tenner', the quick way to the poor house, etc, etc. Ask anybody who considers themselves an astute gambler and they'll tell you not to bet on accumulators, that you can only make sustained profit by having single bets. But the fact of the matter is that if you do your research and you find value then accumulators can still see you return a profit. Over the coming weeks we will look to dispel the rumours, put to flight the myths and bury the folklore of the 'professionals'.

Bet One: Football - Carling Cup

Since Arsenal beat Man Utd at the weekend all is well in the world once more, we no longer need to listen to the nonsense that it may be time for Wenger to leave his post as manager, and we now get a chance to look at what he does best...... showcase the squad's potential.
Saturday was undoubtedly a great result, and he will have taken great pleasure from it, but you always get the sense that Wenger gets more enjoyment from sitting back, relaxing and watching his youth team run circles around and ultimately embarrass grown men in the primes of their careers.

Sheffield United were the unfortunate soles who faced Arsenal in the 3rd round this year, and were consequently torn to pieces, beaten 6-0 by a starting 11 that consisted of 7 teenagers, most notably Carlos Vela who weighed in with a spectacular hat-trick.

Now Wigan are the unlucky club who make the trip to North London for the 4th round tie, and without the services of Emile Heskey, who picked up an injury at the weekend , Steve Bruce's men will find it very difficult to get anything out of the game.

Vela is likely to be in the starting line-up again alongside Aaron Ramsey who got his first Champions League goal against Fenerbahce last month and the 16-year old Jack Wilshere, as Wenger will look to name an almost identical side to the one he put out in the last round. Although I don't expect another 6-0 score line, I can see Wigan struggling to contain Arsenal and Arsene Wenger having another enjoyable, relaxing evening.

Selection: Arsenal to beat Wigan @ [1.66]

Bet Two: Snooker - Bahrain

If you have been watching Eurosport's coverage of the Bahrain Championship so far this week, you will be forgiven for thinking that you have stepped into a time warp back to the 1980's. The soft focus camera lens and back to basics score board make the era of High Definition TV seem like a vision akin to Marty McFly's hover board in the Back to the Future trilogy.
It has all obviously got too much for Steve Davis who did look to be a good bet to make his 3rd quarter-final of the season, but has withdrawn handing Dominic Dale a bye into the Quarter-Final.

Dale will play the winner of the second round match between Ryan Day and Matthew Stevens meaning we are guaranteed to have a Welshman in the Semi finals, and Ryan Day looks to be that man.

Day comes to Bahrain on the back of a 9-7 defeat by John Higgins in the final of the Grand Prix in Glasgow last month. He never really got going in that final and was always playing catch up but had played some great snooker leading up to it, beating 2008 World Championship finalist Ali Carter and Mark Selby along the way.

Stevens has slipped to number 33 in the provisional rankings and is very much a player who is best suited to a longer format of the game than that which is being contested in Bahrain where the first to 5 frames will progress to the next round. All pointers suggest that we are looking at Day making a comfortable progression to the quarters where I also fully expect him to beat Dominic Dale.

Selection: Ryan Day to beat Matthew Stevens @ [1.54]

Bet Three: Tennis - Masters Cup

There is not much more that can be written or said about Andy Murray that hasn't already been done so this year. He has surpassed the expectations of the typically overhyping British media and firmly cemented his place in the top 4 of world tennis.

This week the cream of world tennis is in Shaghai competing for the Masters Cup and on Wednesday Murray faces Roger Federer who is now finally starting to show signs of relinquishing his crown which he held for over half a decade.

With his defeat against Nadal at Wimbledon this year he lost his 5-year reign as Wimbledon champion and later his world number 1 status, and although he did go some way to showing his class and win the US Open, ultimately he has never been the same since.

Murray is one of the few players who can boast a positive head to head record against Federer, leading 3-2 in matches between the two and 3-1 in matches over the shorter three-set format. Add to that the fact that Federer has been carrying an injury, which caused him to withdraw from the Paris Masters last week, and their contrasting starts to the tournament -Murray beating Roddick 2 sets to 1 and Federer losing by the same score line to Simon, this all means that backing 'Muzza' here is the only option.

Selection: Andy Murray to beat Roger Federer @ [2.24]

This week's multiple comes to odds of: [5.81]

(1)

1. JP | 11 November 2008

   Its quite right that acca's can be worthwhile bets if all the selections represent value in their own right. But quite often, bettors fail to stake accordingly and usually overstake. I quite like the look of these selections but I make a treble of 1.66, 1.54 and 2.24 returning a price of 5.72 instead of 5.81 (and thats before comission.) Would the author volunteer a price that this treble "should" be?

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