Wayne Rooney special bets for England v Switzerland

Wayne Rooney is used to appearing on the back pages of the Sunday newspapers following a bright performance for Manchester United, although the striker was instead on the front pages of the News of the World and Sunday Mirror this weekend, with allegations of having an affair.

It appears as though the England striker will still line up in Switzerland on Tuesday, having flown out with the rest of the team on Monday morning, although some bookmakers are now offering a bigger price about an away win following the allegations.

Stan James and Bet Fred both go 10/11 about the Three Lions on the basis that Rooney could be distracted by the tabloid stories, although some might say that England should be closer to the 6/4 mark given how poorly they performed at the World Cup in South Africa.

Ladbrokes offer 9/2 that Wayne Rooney opens the scoring in Basel and there have been the predictable bookmaker quotes about the Manchester United forward ‘scoring away from home again’. Stan James go 6/4 that he’s on the scoresheet at any stage, although there remains the possibility that Fabio Capello might keep him on the bench.

Bet365 offer 33/1 that Rooney shows no ill-effect from the tabloid allegations by scoring a hat-trick against Switzerland and he did have a hand in all four of England’s goals against Bulgaria on Friday. Similarly, you can back Jermain Defoe at 40/1 with bet365 to bag another three goals, while Theo Walcott is available at 100/1 with the same firm. The Arsenal winger did manage a hat-trick in Croatia during the qualifying stages for the World Cup.

William Hill have been a little more unsavoury with some of their odds, offering 6/4 that Rooney faces divorce proceedings before the end of 2010, although it’s unclear as to whether his private life has been damaged by what are no more than allegations at the moment. The same firm offer odds of 9/1 that the striker joins a foreign club during the January transfer window, although Sir Alex Ferguson will surely not allow the player to leave.

Back to the football and Blue Square are running with plenty of Wayne Rooney bets, including odds of 16/1 that the forward scores in both halves of the match against Switzerland. He spent a number of games last season scoring with his head and the same bookmaker offer 11/1 that Rooney scores with a header against the Swiss.

While Rooney might be paying the penalty at home, you can get 18/1 with Blue Square that he earns a penalty in Basel, although he might be the subject of a few jibes from the opposition players. There are odds of 33/1 that the striker is sent off against Switzerland and 9/4 that he picks up a yellow card.
 
Finally, bet365 have launched a new type of bet called the Timecast where you can bet on the first player to score and what time period of the match they will score in. So if you think that Wayne Rooney will score first and before the 21st minute, you can get 12/1, while there is 13/1 about 21-45 and 16/1 that it’s in the second half.