The Toon V Liverpool: Round-Up

A Football Related 'Would You Rather?'

I asked a mackem once if he would rather Sunderland qualified for Europe or the Toon got relegated, and to my surprise he said he'd rather we got relegated.  I totally can't relate to that way of thinking because surely the success of your own team has to come first.

What sort of ambition does it show if you're so obsessed with your rivals that their failure means more to you than the success of your own team?  Yes, it's amusing when the mackems get beat, but misery for Sunderland can never be more than an entertaining side dish compared to the joy of a Toon victory.

So before the Villa/mackem match last night my priorities were all about Toon survival.  I was therefore (admittedly against my natural instincts) favouring a Sunderland win as I figured this would cement our chances of finishing above Villa, and as I say, our survival has to be the priority.

Newcastle United V Liverpool (27/04/13)

My Tips For The Toon V Liverpool

With four matches to go we currently have a six point cushion over third bottom Wigan (who have a game in hand), and with Villa three points below us and Stoke and the mackems level with us on points, three points against Liverpool would go a long way towards guaranteeing our Premier League status next season.

Here are my optimistic bets this week...

Toon Tips:

Match Result: 
30 points on Newcastle at 2.88
The bookies make Liverpool the slight favourites but their recent form has been average with three consecutive draws against Chelsea, Reading and West Ham.  They'll also be without Suarez who starts his ten match ban (even if Suarez decides to appeal, the automatic three match ban for violent conduct - which he's admitted - would start immediately), so it could possibly be a decent time to play Liverpool right now.  Until the mackem match our home league form was excellent, with four consecutive home wins in the league, so hopefully the derby match was just a blip.

All things considered I'm going to go for an optmistic bet on a Toon win and then back this up with a smaller more cautious bet on us in the Double Chance market.

Double Chance: 
20 points on Newcastle Or Draw at 1.53

West Brom V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For West Bromwich Albion V Newcastle United: Round-Up

Rather worryingly, Norwich, Stoke and the mackems all won this weekend which means that the cushion of teams between us and relegation is getting ever smaller.  Wigan or Villa still look the favourites to be the third team relegated, but three points against Liverpool on Saturday would certainly ease the nerves.

Here's how my tips got on...

Toon Tips:

Match Result: 
30 points on Draw at 3.4 - WIN 102 points
It was a game of two halves, with chances not taken in the first half ultimately proving costly as West Brom came out with far more purporse in the second half, and a Billy Jones equaliser in the 64th minute meant that in the end we went away with a point.

1st Goalscorer:
15 points on Papiss Cisse at 6.5 - LOSS

West Bromwich Albion V Newcastle United (21/04/13)

My Tips For West Brom V The Toon

Despite the result last weekend it's clear who the bookies rate as the better side, as at the time of writing Sunderland are currently a 7.5 shot to go down compared to The Toon's odds of 21.0.

The league table is looking very tight this year though, so we need to quickly move on from our performance against the mackems and start getting some points in the bag, hopefully starting with West Brom...

Toon Tips:

Match Result: 
30 points on Draw at 3.4
With only one league win on our travels all season, and no points from our last four league away matches, it's difficult to have too much optimism but if I'm looking for positives then West Brom have been inconsistent at home in recent matches.  All things considered I'm keeping my expectations in check and therefore going for the draw.

1st Goalscorer:
15 points on Papiss Cisse at 6.5
Papiss Cisse's recent goal scoring form remains decent with 3 goals from our last 4 games in all competitions and 5 from our last 8, and without a dodgy linesman against Sunderland it would have been even more.

The Toon V The Mackems: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Newcastle United V Sunderland: Round-Up

 

I don't really have the motivation to talk about the match so I'll go straight onto the tips round-up and quickly sum up how my predictions got on...

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Toon Tips:

The only one of my Toon tips which came up, unfortunately not in the way I was hoping for, was:

Half With Most Goals: 
15 points on Second Half at 2.0 - WIN 30 points

Making an overall return of 30 points from 100 points and therefore an overall loss of 70 points.

General football tips:

My general football tips just sneaked a slight profit this week...

Stoke V Man United - Win To Nil:
20 points on Man United To Win To Nil at 2.63 - WIN 53 points
Man United have now won 7 of their last 8 league matches with a clean sheet.

Newcastle United V Sunderland (14/04/13)

My Tips For The Toon V The Mackems

The disappointment of last night's Europa League exit is still present as I write this, but a positive second half performance meant that we went into the final few minutes with dreams of Cisse working his injury time magic once again, but unfortunately it wasn't to be.

Onto the mackems, and last week both my sets of tips made a profit, so hopefully that bodes well for my tips for Sunday's derby...

Toon Tips:

Match Result: 
30 points on Newcastle at 1.91
The form book can sometimes go out of the window for local derbies, but the Toon have won our last four league home matches, whereas the mackems haven't won in the league since 19th January (away to Wigan), so it's no surprise that the bookies have us as the odds on favourites.

To Score in 90 Minutes:
20 points on Papiss Cisse at 2.25
It's tempting to go for Shola the Mackem Slayer in this market, but the obvious concern with that bet is how long Shola will get on the field, so taking that into consideration I've decided to go for Papiss Cisse to continue his recent goal scoring form at St James Park.

The Toon V Fulham: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Newcastle United V Fulham: Round-Up

 

What a finish! What a celebration!

Sometimes a photo says much more than words and the now famous photo by @TaylorsFistpump captures the moment perfectly.  What a finish!

Thanks to another injury time winner from Papiss Cisse we gained three more valuable points towards ensuring our Premership status, and Cisse's late strike also meant that my Toon tips returned a profit this week, as did my general football tips...

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Toon Tips:

Match Result:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.05 - WIN 41 points
Papiss Cisse hit an injury time winner for the third consecutive home match to ensure we continued our recent winning home form.

Winning Margin:
10 points on Newcastle By Exactly 1 Goal at 3.75 - WIN 38 points
That's now 7 of our 9 league victories at home this season which have been been won by a one goal margin.

Newcastle United V Fulham (07/04/13)

My Tips For The Toon V Fulham

Over-confidence has been my undoing in recent weeks, but despite this I still feel there are reasons for genuine optimism against Fulham, so I'm going to go reasonably confident with my tips once again this week.

Toon Tips:

Match Result:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.05
Despite our recent poor results against Man City and Wigan, our home form is pretty decent with four wins and a draw from our last five home matches in all competitions.  We were also missing a few players against Man City who are now back in the squad, so all things considered I fancy our chances for the three points.

Winning Margin:
10 points on Newcastle By Exactly 1 Goal at 3.75
Of our eight league victories at home this season, six of them have been won by a one goal margin.

Man City V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Manchester City V Newcastle United: Round-Up

 

Before the Man City game I cautioned that I was betting with my heart rather than my head and unfortunately that proved to be the case.

On the positive side, according to Pardew we could have four or five players back from injury for Fulham on Sunday, or possibly even for Benfica on Thursday, so hopefully our recent blip is just a temporary measure.

Anyway, over-optimism meant a total wipe-out for my Toon tips this week and my general football tips didn't do too much better...

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General Football Tips:

Sunderland V Man United - Win To Nil:
20 points on Man United To Win To Nil at 2.75 - WIN 55 points
Man United have now won their last six league games to nil.

Wigan V Norwich - Match Result:
20 points on Draw at 3.6 - LOSS