Monte's Multiple: The bubble has burst for admirable Palace

Monte's Multiple / Jaymes Monte / 23 February 2010 /

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Since Stiliyan Petrov’s late equaliser, things have gone from bad to worse for Palace.

Back Villa to beat Palace @ 1.4
Lay Taylor to beat Wade @ 1.35
Back India to beat South Africa @ 1.95
Treble pays @ 10.5

A concoction of FA Cup football, Premier League darts and international cricket make up this week's treble for Jaymes Monte...

Bet 1: Football - FA Cup

That late equaliser from Stiliyan Petrov in the first meeting of these two clubs seems to have done a lot more than deny Crystal Palace a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup; it looks to have burst the bubble that they had been in since the club went into administration. Palace have lost their two subsequent games and now occupy one of the three relegation places at the foot of the Championship table, a fate which seems a tad harsh given they were pushing for a play-off spot just weeks ago.

Aston Villa on the other hand were merciless against Burnley at the weekend scoring four goals in 13 second-half minutes to seal a 5-2 victory. In front of their home fans this Wednesday night I don't foresee them being any less ruthless or showing any modicum of sympathy toward their opponents' plight. It will be another full strength side sent out by Martin O'Neill and this time they should progress with the minimum amount of fuss.

Selection: Back Villa to beat Palace @ [1.4]

Bet 2: Darts - Premier League

This year's Premier League of Darts is proving to be quite a tricky betting proposition with even Phil Taylor conspiring to do things the hard way. He lost the opening four legs of his match against Ronnie Baxter last week before winning seven on the bounce himself and eventually taking the match 8-6.

This week he is up against the winless, pointless and extremely disappointing James Wade who couldn't have got off to a worse start in defence of his Premier League title. Logic suggests a straight forward back of the World Champion but Wade has held a certain je ne sais quoi over 'The Power' in the Premier League ever since becoming the first player to beat him in the competition.

He became the only player to beat him twice in the Premier League after victory in the group stages of last year's tournament and although it is difficult to suggest that he will definitely make it a third on current form, there has to be value in taking on Taylor at [1.35].

Selection: Lay Taylor to beat Wade @ [1.35]

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

ODIs don't come much closer or dramatic than the first of this three match series. India were the eventual victors and showed great resolve but it could have been very different with South Africa requiring just 10 from the final over. It came down to them needing four from the final ball and India thought they had won it when the ball landed in the gloves of MS Dhoni, but the umpire signalled a wide to postpone the celebrations before they finally wrapped it up. However, it shouldn't really have been such a climatic finish after Jacques Kallis was dismissed in the 43rd over with South Africa requiring 74 from 43 balls and only two wickets in hand.

The dominance shown by India until that point is the reason that I am siding with them to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Their 298 runs came from across the team with only one player - Sachin Tendulkar - not reaching double figures in the runs scored department and then five different players took wickets in their defence of the total. There was no over reliance on one player in the win and if they can produce the same again here then they can wrap up the series with a game to spare.

Selection: Back India to beat South Africa @ [1.95]