Saturday’s British betting preview

Saturday 23^rd January

English Championship

Sheffield Wednesday v Peterborough

Alan Irvine takes charge of Sheffield Wednesday for the 3^rd time as his new charges come up against bottom club Peterborough in the proverbial relegation 6 pointer at Hillsborough.

Sheffield Wednesday have won both games since Alan Irvine took charge at the start of the year. A 2-1 success at Oakwell in the Yorkshire derby against Barnsley was quickly followed up with another victory of the same scoreline, this time away to Blackpool. Both wins will he rejuvenated what was a flagging side who were low on morale before the departure of Brian Laws in December. Before Irvine took charge, Wednesday fought back well to earn a draw in their last home outing which was on Boxing day against top of the table Newcastle. The Owls have got back to basics under their new manager and results as such, have picked up. They are playing a basic 4-4-2 but it is far more positive now than it was under Laws. The players seem to be working that wee bit harder, running for an extra yard and definitely more confident infront of a goal. Sometimes it takes a fresh face coming in to kick-start a team’s season and that is exactly what has happened at Hillsborough.

Peterborough are also on to their 2^nd manager of the season after Darren Ferguson was sacked last year to be replaced by Mark Cooper who was manager of non-league Kettering. Ferguson, ironically enough, is now manager of Alan Irvine’s old team, Preston North End. The Posh travel north tomorrow looking for their first away win all season. They have played 12 matches on the road thus far, losing 8 and picking up a measly 4 points in total. Their form in general has been rather poor throughout the season as they have only managed to win once in their last 14 matches in all competitions. Last time out they lost heavily at home to a Derby side who were also perceived to be in crisis. That loss was made even worse with the sending off of their captain Craig Morgan and fellow defender Ryan Bennett. As a result, both will miss the match tomorrow which means their already wafer thin squad is decimated even more.

Should Wednesday triumph for their 3^rd game in a row they would move further clear of the relegation zone and give themselves some much needed breathing space. Irvine will know this and he will be emphasising how important it is to keep the momentum going at this crucial part of the season. He and his players will also realise that because there are so few games on in the division tomorrow because of the FA Cup, it provides an opportunity to steal a march on teams who will be idle. Peterborough need to start picking points up relatively soon or they will be cast adrift at the bottom of the table. They are currently 7 points off safety which is a rather big gap when you consider that they have failed to win 2 consecutive games all season long.

Luke Varney begins his 3^rd spell on loan at Wednesday tomorrow but he might have to make do with a place on the bench due to the good form of his new team-mates. Peterborough, as mentioned previously, will be without two centre backs so it means a defensive reshuffle with midfielder, Charlie Lee, expected to drop back in as cover.

Momentum is everything in this league and Sheffield Wednesday definitely have that on their side at the moment whilst a depleted Peterborough side who are low in confidence and totally out of form look to be the perfect opposition for the Owls to record a 3^rd successive victory.

My selection: Sheffield Wednesday to beat Peterborough at a best priced 20/23 with Boylesports

FA Cup 4^th Round

Aston Villa v Brighton and Hove Albion

The home side are back into action after Wednesday’s match where they defeated Blackburn to reach their first final in a decade, this time it’s FA Cup action as they take on Brighton for a place in the 5^th round.

Martin O’Neill has transformed Villa in his 4 and half years at the club and he and his players have finally got their reward with a trip to Wembley next month. His side is packed full of young talent, ability and pace. Whoever they face in the League cup final will know not to expect anything other than a stiff examination and for a massive test. O’Neill will also know that the season is nowhere near finished and that his side have done nothing thus far. He’ll want to remain in as many competitions for as long as is possible and that means he’ll be doing his upmost to get a side on the park tomorrow capable of winning to progress to the next round of this cup. He’ll no doubt freshen his side up but there will still be a core of players who have done so well this season who will be selected to make sure that there are no surprises or shocks come 5 o’clock tomorrow. Villa defeated Blackburn in this competition as well in the last round, coming through 3-1 so will be hoping for a similar result tomorrow against League 1 Brighton.

Gus Poyet took over from Russell Slade earlier on this season and after a promising start, results once again suffered. They have picked up once again of late however and are unbeaten in 4, winning their last 3. Interestingly enough, all 3 wins have come on the road which is promising, but they’ll face a far stiffer test than anything they have faced before when they travel north to the Midlands. It will be interesting to see how Poyet approaches this match as he’s known as being an attacking manager so it will be somewhat surprising if he switches to a more conservative system as his side have scored 8 goals in their last 3 games, with Glenn Murray scoring 5 of them.

The likes of Richard Dunne, Emile Heskey and Stan Petrov are nigh on certainties to be rested as they have niggling injuries so expect to see Habib Beye , Fabian Delph and Steve Sidwell return to the side, along with striker John Carew. O’Neill will expect the replacements to be more than good enough to gain a win and a subsequent entry to the draw for the 5^th round.

Brighton are on a decent run of form but are still leaking goals against sides far inferior to anything they’ll face tomorrow. Villa Park will be buzzing and I cannot see anything other than a comfortable home win.

My selections: Aston Villa (-1) to beat Brighton available at 3/4 with Bet365

                            Aston Villa to win both halves available at 6/4 with Skybet

Good Luck and happy punting!