Cambridge To Shake Off Bury At Second Attempt

Bury boss Ronnie Jepson was sufficiently honest to admit that his Shakers side were lucky not to lose to Cambridge in the English FA Cup first round at the first time of asking.

The first match ended in a 0-0 draw at the JD Stadium when Conference National leader Cambridge had the better of the chances, with Kwesi Appiah being particularly guilty of not putting English League Two struggler Bury to the sword. Both Jepson and his Cambridge counterpart, Richard Money, thought that United should have won the game with something in hand.

Cambridge was over the odds to win the English FA Cup first round tie at Bury and United is, arguably, even more nicely priced to win the replay. Bet365 are offering odds of 2.50 about Cambridge qualifying for the English FA Cup second round by beating Bury in normal time. Ladbrokes has got the right idea in listing Cambridge at odds of 2.10.

Across this season and the end of last season Cambridge has won 11 home matches in a row, eight of them without leaking a goal. Bury has won only one of its last 16 away games and one could argue that the Conference National table topper is a stronger team than the English League Two 20th-placed side, which makes Ladbrokes pretty close to the mark.

The best bet of the English Premier League program is under two and a half goals in the match between Crystal Palace and West Ham at Selhurst Park. Nine of Crystal Palace’s 13 English Premier League games have gone under two and a half goals, while seven of West Ham’s 13 top-flight matches have not featured at least three goals. Crystal Palace is the English Premier League’s lowest scorer with just seven goals and West Ham was towards the foot of the top-flight scoring ladder before bagging three at home to Fulham last time out.

BetVictor is quoting odds of 1.73 that Crystal Palace and West Ham combine for zero, one or two goals. Surely if Crystal Palace and West Ham played 100 times at Selhurst Park more than 58 of those games would go under two and a half goals. Crystal Palace failed to mark its first match under Tony Pulis with a goal at Norwich, while West Ham’s attack has laboured without Andy Carroll in its line-up.

Staying in the English Premier League and, given the nature of David Moyes’s departure from Everton to join Manchester United, one can expect the Toffees players that he left behind to be fired up for their visit to Old Trafford.

With six wins, six draws and an English Premier League-best one loss this season, Everton deserve to have their punting supporters at odds of 2.15 not to lose, 3.45 to win on the draw-no-bet market and 5.00 to win without a safety net.

Everton has won one and drawn one of its last three English Premier League games against Manchester United and the Toffees are two points above the Red Devils after 13 rounds of this term. Manchester United is this season’s Liverpool – the English Premier League side most regularly under its true odds because bookmakers know punters will back it irrespective of the price at which it is available.

Dropping down into the English Championship and two teams appeal at their odds – Brighton at 1.67 with Coral to beat bottom-of-the-ladder Barnsley and second-placed Burnley at 2.20 with BetVictor and Boylesports to defeat a Watford side that appears to be imploding under Gianfranco Zola.

Brighton has lifted itself into the English Championship promotion race by stringing together six unbeaten matches, including a 1-0 win at UEFA Europa League competitor Wigan. Barnsley has accrued only one English Championship away point this term, losing seven out of eight times.

Burnley has given way to Leicester at the top of the English Championship but the Clarets have not lost the plot and there is not a great deal wrong with their recent form. Watford, however, lost 0-3 at home to struggling Yeovil last time out to make it just two points from its last six games in the English Championship. Watford’s Hornets have lost their buzz and Zola admits that his team is in crisis.