Coral’s on going reward for customers, is one of the more unique ones online. Coral offer a 10% cash back each month, on the monthly aggregate losses of your bets with them. This is applicable to all sports and gaming, and represents some great value for the account holders. Having used Coral for years, from personal experience, this is a nice little bonus at the end of the month if things haven’t quite panned out. The offer is extended to all new customers, as well as existing ones, and they are the only online bookmakers to extend this generous 10% offer.

Coral run a great online bookmaking service, with plenty of promotions happening over a busy site. There’s a great column of all the sporting headlines which are happening around the world, down the left hand side of the screen, so you are unlikely to miss anything. Their sports book is great, with submarkets on spots like football, reaching as far as the eye can see, or so it seems on some occasions. They are very good with getting their ante post markets up, and they also offer Guaranteed Prices on their horse racing. Making selections and adding to your betting slip is easy, as everything is laid out clearly, and prices can be seen in either decimal or fractional odds.

For quick navigating, there is tabbed menu bar which can take you to All Events, Today’s Events, Live Betting or Football, Horse Racing or Greyhounds. This really makes finding the right selection in a market easy, and most importantly quick. A punter will easily be led into a flash-driven Live Betting section, which covers all of the major sports, as to be expected. Coral’s Live In-Play service is neatly laid out with all the options for betting, right to hand. Even if you click on a cricket match for example for Live Betting, there is a ticker bar running across the screen keeping you updated with scores from other sports. This way you won’t miss any other of the live action.

The Coral website is loaded with other gambling opportunities, from Casino, Poker, Lotto, Bingo and an awesome Virtual Sports section. If you are looking for something to place a wager on while waiting for real life action to start, then you can find virtual football, virtual horse racing and virtual dogs to play with. Along with their 10% Cashback, Coral really have the online sports betting and gambling world, all packaged up in a very neat bundle. Check out the Coral homepage and you will be lead easily into the world of an excellent online bookmaker.

For Manchester City, there will be questions asked about this latest upset. It came just over a week after they were dumped out of the Carling Cup semi final by Manchester United, and Saturday’s three points will enact further calls from Mancini for his players to dig a little deeper. Still, Manchester City are not that badly positioned, just three points out of fourth place, with two games in hand still over Liverpool who occupy that precious spot. While City have found a new leash of life under Italian boss Mancini, they cannot start getting complacent that they will have their best finish for years. There is a lot of work to be done until the end of the season, and with Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa all in the hunt for the Champions League spot, nothing can be taken for granted.

Although Mancini has reported players being a bit tired, City do have a busy period. With a full list of midweek games this week, back to back games against Stoke will follow. Man City plays hosts to Stoke in the FA next Saturday, before visiting their opponents just three days later. The City fans have been injected with a lot of hope after a summer of big spending, and while the FA Cup remains a very viable proposition for them, with three of the big four having fallen by the wayside, City’s main focus should remain on fourth place. That would really earmark a new era of progress for the blue side of Manchester, who have long lived in the shadows of their Old Trafford neighbours.

The will get the chance against another of the league’s strugglers, as they take on Bolton on Tuesday. Bolton boss Owen Coyle has his work cut out to save his new team from relegation, as they are just one point out of the zone. After successfully beating his old club Burnley, Bolton have only picked up one point out of their last two games. Things are so tight down the bottom that every point is vital, and Bolton may look to Hull for inspiration. Their good work against top opposition, can be repeated, and they need it to be, if they are going to secure their Premier League future.

BETTING STATS (League Only)

Last 5 Head to Head
Bolton 3, Man City 3
Man City 1, Bolton 0
Bolton 2, Man City 0
Bolton 0, Man City 0
Man City 4, Bolton 2

Last 5 Match Goals
Man City: 10 For, 5 Against
Bolton: 3 For, 8 Against

Last 10 Form
Man City: W6, D1, L3
Bolton: W2, D4, L4

Win Percentage
Man City have a 72.7 win percentage at home
Bolton have a 20.0 win percentage away from home

Match Prices
Manchester City to win: 5/11 at Coral
Draw: 10/3 at SkyBet
Bolton to win: 8/1 at Victor Chandler

Betting Advice: City should win this, as Bolton are struggling for goals and points. There is a lot of work to be done at the back, but they also need to find ways to find the back of the net. It will be tough against a City side, who, as a whole have looked pretty solid for most of the season. A good Asian Handicap in favour of Bolton, could work here.
Bolton +1.75 Asian Handicap: 10/11 at Victor Chandler

Sports betting week 8 - 14 February

Date	Sport	Org.	Venue	Event
9-10 Feb		DFB	Germany	Cup
9-10 Feb		FA	England	Premier League
12-14 Feb		DFB	Germany	Bundesliga
12-14 Feb		FIGC	Italy	Serie A
13-14 Feb		FA	England	FA Cup Fifth Round Proper
13-14 Feb		RFEF	Spain	Primera Division
13-14 Feb		FFF	France	Ligue 1
9-14 Feb		WTA	Paris	Open GDF SUEZ
9-14 Feb		WTA	Pattaya City (Thailand)	PTT Pattaya Women's Open
8-14 Feb		ATP	San Jose, CA	SAP Open
8-14 Feb		ATP	Costa Do Sauipe	Brasil Open
8-14 Feb		ATP	Rotterdam	ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
12-28 Feb		IOC	Vancouver	Olympic Wintergames

Britain are sending fourteen skiers over there, despite the governing body of British Skiing going bust, just before the start of the games. The British Olympics Association had to step in to ensure that the skiers would have the necessary funding and resources to get there and compete in the games. On a whole there have been a lot of funds thrown at the problem of under-funding and resources, which have led to Britain failing to make an impact at the Winter Olympics for decades. Unfortunately, skiing has not been so well looked after. Now however, on a whole, the winds of change they are a-blowing apparently, with some real gold medal hopes. Here we take a look at some of the medal hopefuls for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

If there is one sport at the Winter Olympics that Britain is kind of known for, it is in the field of Curling. There is a wonderful chance that Britain can walk off with the Gold Medal in the Men’s Curling at the 2010 Winter Olympics, as Britain’s Men are current World Champions. That will put them in good stead, and mean they are full of confidence ahead of the game. It is the Scots team which all the hopes are riding on, as David Murdoch leads his men in action, after winning the World title back in April. The Women’s team will be lead by Eve Muirhead, who has had major successes at the junior level of the sport, and will be looking to replicate it on the big stage.

Skeleton. The very scary looking run down the bobsleigh track on little more than a tea tray. Still, after some good backing and investment, Britain are sending four competitors to compete. Most notable name on the list is that of Shelley Rudman, who will be hoping to go one better than her silver place finish four years ago in Turin. She has the consistency and the skill of the highest level to easily make a podium finish in Vancouver. She also came in second place at the end of the World Cup season. Watch out for her.

Short Track Speed Skating is where Britain could pick up some medals, if not Gold, then they will be looking for podium finishes. Britain’s Speed Skaters performed excellently at the European Championships, brining home three medals. Jonathan Eley, Elise Christie and Sarah Lindsay are prominent names in Team GB, and will their recent success, the Short Track Speed Skating team is considered to be quite strong.

Britain have had some great success since money was thrown at developing some Winter Sports Stars. Kristian Bromley dominated in the Bob Skeleton, while success has also come in the women’s Bobsleigh. There is also some hope for Britain’s new Torvill and Dean, with John and Sinead Kerr possibly in amongst the medal hunt if they perform to the very best of their abilities. While being an outside chance, there is a lot of belief with the pair. Snowboarders Lesley McKenna and Zoe Gillings will be doing their best to twist, turn and flip her way to some extreme success, all as part of 52 competitors making up Team GB across 6 sports.

With all of the hope an optimism of the home nations, it is no point looking towards the top of the medal table for Team GB, no matter how patriotic you want to be. But there are some genuine chances of bringing home some medals, and the bookmakers are offering some nice prices on Great Britain specials.

Great Britain Gold Medals:
Not to win one: 2/5 at Ladbrokes
To win one: 7/4 at Ladbrokes

Great Britain Medals
To win 1 or 2: 8/13 at SportingBet
To win 2-3 medals: 4/6 at Ladbrokes
Over 2 medals: 6/4 at SportingBet
3 or more: 5/4 at Bwin
4 or more medals: 7/2 at Ladbrokes

Shelley Rudman to win a medal: 4/6 at 888Sport
Nicola Minichiello to win a medal: 7/2 at Blue Square
Jonathan Eley to win a medal: 4/1 at 888Sport
Sinead and John Kerr to win a medal: 5/1 at Blue Square

Great Britain Total Gold Medals:
None: 8/13 at SportingBet
1 or More: 6/5 at SportingBet

Scotland drew the short straw after they were drawn in the same group as current European Champions Spain, and similarly tough opposition in the Czech Republic. The Republic of Ireland will fancy their chances against seeded team Russia, while Northern Ireland were drawn against seeded team Italy. With 52 teams in the draw, there are just fourteen places up for grabs, with the nine group winners and best runner up automatically proceeding. There will be a two leg play-off for the other eight runner’s up.

Qualifying for the European Championships, kicks in to gear not too long after the World Cup. Held over the course of just over a year, Euro 2012 qualifying starts in September and concludes in October 2011, with the play-offs held in November. Capello’s men, thanks to their seeding, have landed themselves a nice draw, and there will much expectation on them again. But first things first, there is a World Cup to deal with in South Africa, and England start their 2010 preparations on March 3rd in a home friendly against African Cup of Nations Winners Egypt.

Rep Of Ireland to win Group B – 7/2 at Boylesports
Northern Ireland to win Group C – 25/1 at Boylesports
Scotland to win Group I – 12/1 at Boylesports

Full Group Listing
A: Germany, Turkey, Belgium, Austria, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan
B: Russia, Rep of Ireland, Slovakia, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra
C: Italy, Serbia, Slovenia, Northern Ireland, Estonia, Faroe Islands
D: France, Romania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg
E: Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, San Marino
F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta
G: England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro
G: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland
H: Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein

One baffling thing about these rumours is that the Match Play event in Arizona is sponsored  by one the sponsors who unceremoniously dropped Woods as the face of their advertising campaign. Maybe his return there though would show that he has been humbled and it really is all about the golf for him upon his return. The WGC Match Play Championships, is a little different from everything else on the tour, in that it is a knock-out event, leading to a final. The top 64 players on the tour automatically qualify for this, and Woods, should he return, will have only missed one tournament that he would normally show up for. The longer he stays away, the more it could hamper his pursuit of the Majors.

But, golf goes on without Mr Woods, as displayed in the USPGA’s Northern Trust Open in California, and the European Tour out in the Dubai Desert Classic at the moment. In Dubai, Lee Westwood made a great charge towards the top of the leader board yesterday, carding a wonderful 65, but it still wasn’t quite enough to touch Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee who hit a 66 in his second round to move one shot ahead of the pack on -8 under. Spain’s Ryder Cup star, Miguel Angel Jiminez is in contention, also on -7 under with Westwood and Wales’ Stephen Dodd. One of the upcoming new young stars on the tour, Northern Irelands Rory McIlroy, shared the lead after the first round, as he looks to defend his Dubai Crown. After two rounds, the 20 year old shares 5th place.

Dubai Desert Classic Outright Odds (Scores after second round in brackets)
Lee Westwood (-7) – 3/1 at Coral
Rory McIlroy (-6) – 9/2 at SkyBet
Thongchai Jaidee (-8) – 10/1 at Totesport
Charl Schwartz (-6) – 10/1 at Victor Chandler
Alvaro Quiros – 11/1 at William Hill

Over in the USPGA Tour, where the Northern Trust Open 2010 is underway, England’s Justin Rose is trying to hard to put himself on the golfing map again, as he shared 4th place after two rounds. Being played at the Riviera Country Club in California, it is Steve Stricker who is leading the way, along with Dustin Johnson, who made a hole-in-one in his second round. The weather on the course has not been great, with persistent and early darkness from heavy storm clouds causing delays in the game. Sticker and Johnson, under the conditions, look hard to catch after posting scores that have left them three shots clear of the nearest opponent. Johnson isn’t back in the clubhouse yet on his second round, thanks to the bad light, he still has two holes to play, so could still take the lead after two rounds.

Northern Trust Open Outright: Scores after second round in brackets:
Steve Stricker (-10)  – 13/8 at Stan James
Dustin Johnson (-10) – 11/4 at Paddy Power
Andreas Romero (-7) – 12/1 at Bet365
Phil Mickelson (-4) – 12/1 at Boylesports
Justin Rose (-6) – 22/1 at Bet365

That has not happened, and now this London derby takes on extra importance, as Chelsea need to defeat one of their closest challengers. For Arsenal, they need to win to keep in touch. There is increasing pressure at the top of the Premier League now, with momentum seeming to have shifted in the favour of Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils. If Chelsea could play all of their remaining games at Stamford Bridge, then they would probably be OK, as they have only dropped two points there all season. It is on their travels they have experienced all of their problems, so boss Carlo Ancelotti will be happy to be back in the relative safety of home turf, and have his squad relatively injury free.

Ashley Cole will return to the side after a problem which kept him out of the starting line up against Hull, and the Blues are only really missing the work of Michael Essien. The other question is whether Didier Drogba hampers the game of Nicolas Anelka, who seems to go into shell playing second fiddle to Chelsea’s main man. Some good news for Chelsea, is that they have had their potential transfer ban wiped out after the issues about poaching Gael Kakuta, so they will be free to add to their squad. Back in November, Chelsea played Arsenal of the Emirates park, where they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. Since then, Chelsea has slipped and stumbled their way along the path to their title challenge, looking out of sorts on the road. Their main problem, as highlighted by Hull, is defending set pieces. That would naturally be one area which the opposition would attack, but Arsenal are lacking something aerially, and certainly are missing a powerful forward in the mould of a Didier Drogba.

The Gunners do not have a great record against Chelsea, and Arsene Wenger’s men need to look for points. The heavy loss to Manchester United on their last outing, meant that they lost ground on second place. Another defeat could potentially open up a seven point gap. With Liverpool to come next, this has been a testing run of Arsenal’s nerve. You can usually rely on Arsenal for goals, but they have hit the back of the net only once in their last two games. They have had their striker problems, missing Robin van Persie, Nicholas Bendtner and Eduardo (who will again be missing on the weekend). They have class in the form of Andrey Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas, but as highlighted in the first meeting between the two clubs in November, that was nowhere near enough to compete with Chelsea. It wasn’t enough to live with Manchester United last weekend.

BETTING STATS (League only)

Last 5 Head to Head
Arsenal 0, Chelsea 3
Arsenal 1, Chelsea 4
Chelsea 1, Arsenal 2
Chelsea 2, Arsenal 1
Arsenal 1, Chelsea 0

Last 5 Match Goals
Chelsea: 15 For, 5 Against
Arsenal: 9 For, 7 Against

Last 10 Form
Chelsea: W5, D4, L1
Arsenal: W6, D3, L1

Win Percentage:
Chelsea have a 91.7 win percentage at home
Arsenal have a 50.0 win percentage away from home

Match Prices
Chelsea to win: 5/6 at BetFred
Draw: 13/5 at Bet365
Arsenal to win: 4/1 at Blue Square

Betting Advice: If Chelsea are on top of their passing game, then they should win this fixture, which will guarantee they remain in top spot. They are not going to get many more chances to capitalise on mistakes by Manchester United, and so they will need to iron out at issues at the back immediately. Fortunately, the way Arsenal play, it is right into the hands of the Blues. Arsenal like playing the pretty stuff, which Chelsea can more than match them at, as well as having the physical power of Drogba to mix it up. Another defeat for Arsenal would seriously put them back, but betting is leaning towards a home victory.
Chelsea to win with a clean sheet: 7/4 at Boylesports

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Injuries are grabbing the latest headlines ahead of the weekend’s matches. That and the pretty awesome Morgan Freeman “Invictus” promo video for the tournament, which has him reading William Henley’s famous poem (it’s the poem which Nelson Mandela had with him during his imprisonment). Ahead of the England v Wales game, Wales were dealt a massive blow when world class flanker Gethin Jenkins has picked up a calf injury which means that he won’t be able to take the field at Twickenham on Saturday. Jenkins is one of the world’s star players in his role, and his presence will be a major loss as the Welsh try to take England on up front. But England were similarly struck with the injury bug, as last seasons top try scorer Riki Flutey has withdrawn through injury. His presence will also be missed as England look to take a more creative, attacking approach to the game. Leicester’s Toby Flood will take over the number 12 shirt on Saturday.

Saturday’s other game sees Ireland take on Italy, with the Irish having to play up their confidence in their scrum, and is the one area where Italy could cause them problems. With the Irish expected to take on the defence of their Six Nations crown with some aplomb, the other nations will naturally be looking to find some kind of weakness there. Hooker Jerry Flannery has admitted that they need to improve their scrummaging from what was on display during the autumn. Italy will be without pivotal figure of Sergio Parisse for the entire 2010 RBS Six Nations Tournament.

Latest Match Prices
England to win: 8/13 at Totesport
Draw: 22/1 at Bwin
Wales to win: 6/4 at Bet365

Scotland to win: 5/2 at SportingBet
Draw: 25/1 at Paddy Power
France: 2/5 at Totesport

England, understandably are ranked among the top seeds for the qualifying draw, which means they will avoid other powerhouses such as Spain, Germany, France and Italy. With 51 teams involved in qualifying, there is a race for just 14 places to reach the 2012 finals, which are held jointly by Poland and the Ukraine. The draw will place teams in nine groups, with the winners of those nine groups automatically qualifying. The best of the runner’s up will also get automatic qualification, with the remaining other eight runners-up going into a two-leg play, much the same as what happened for Qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in the European Zone. Poland and Ukraine naturally have already secured their spots as hosts.

England aside, the other home nations will be quickly keen to get back into action and put the disappointment of missing the World Cup behind them. Wales had a poor World Cup qualifying campaign, and it has been over a decade since Scotland were involved in the finals of a major tournament. New boss Craig Levein is hoping to change all that, and has spoken of how keen he is to pit his wits against the auld enemy, England. The Republic of Ireland of course, will be looking to redress all the furore surrounding their World Cup play-off loss against France, after Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball in the build up to France’s crucial winning goal. Northern Ireland performed will in a tough group with World Cup qualifying on the line, but they just could not battle their way into a runner’s-up spot.

There is hope there for all home nations, with Scotland, Northern and Republic of Ireland, all together in seeding pot number 3 for the draw. Wales will be drawn from seeding pot four. While there will be hope and optimism ahead of the qualification, the level of quality throughout the top four seeded groups is quite fierce. As shown during European qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, there are going to be no easy rides, although the likes of Germany, Italy, England and Spain will be favourites to book safe passage. Spain won the 2008 European Championships, thanks to a goal from Liverpool’s Fernando Torres against Germany in the final. The European champions are looking favourites to add the World Cup to their reign of football power.

The qualifiers for the 2012 European Championships, will take place between September 2010 and October 2011, and all seedings have been based on the UEFA national team coefficient system.

Pot 1: Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia

Pot 2: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania

Pot 3: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Pot 4: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus

Pot 5: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein

Pot 6: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino

Latest Outright 2010 Prices:
Spain – 6/1 at SkyBet
Germany – 8/1 at SkyBet
Italy – 9/1 at Stan James
Holland – 10/1 at Boylesports
England – 12/1 at Bwin