Newcastle United V West Ham United (24/08/13)

A round-up of which bookies are offering the best prices for The Toon V West Ham match.

After the lack of summer signings and the performance away to Man City, it's hard to be overly confident about the forthcoming season.

Of course it's worth keeping things in perspective and remembering that we were playing one of the best three sides in the country away from home, but even allowing for this you have to ask which match Alan Pardew was watching when he remarked in his post match comments that "we gave a decent account of ourselves in the first half".

We're priced as favourites against West Ham, but it's hard to back us with any great deal of confidence, so once again I'm going to avoid making any predictions on the match.

Instead here's a round-up of which bookies are offering the best odds on various betting markets for The Toon V West Ham match...

Match Betting:

Newcastle - 2.3 (William Hill)
Draw - 3.4 (Coral, Bet Victor, SkyBet, Bet365, Totesport, BetFred, Sporting Bet, Paddy Power)
West Ham - 3.5 (Bet Victor)

The Toon V West Ham: Tips Round-Up

My tips for Newcastle United V West Ham: Round-Up

Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

Unfortunately, a Kevin Nolan goal for West Ham meant we suffered our third league defeat of the season, and as my tips were heavily based on us winning it meant that my run of four profitable weeks in succession with my Newcastle tips came to an end.  Respect to Nolan for not celebrating, but it’s not really much consolation and hopefully we’ll improve over the next few weeks as if we can put a bit of form together then the next five games on the fixture list all look like winnable games.

My general football tips managed to make a slim profit, as detailed below…

Chelsea V Liverpool - Full Time Result:
30 points on Chelsea at 1.91 - LOSS

Reading V Norwich - Full Time Result:
15 points on Draw at 3.4 – WIN 51 points

Newcastle United V West Ham (11/11/12)

My Tips For The Toon V West Ham

Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

The uncertainty over team selection in Europe means that once again I'm steering clear of Thursday's Europa League match against Bruges and instead making predictions for the West Ham match on Sunday...

Full Time Result:

20 points on Newcastle at 2.0

West Ham have only managed two victories in their last seven league games (against bottom two clubs Southampton and QPR) so odds of evens for the Newcastle victory are generous enough to tempt me into a 20 point bet.

Both Teams To Score:
30 points on Both Teams To Score - Yes at 1.57
Although we've scored in seven of our last eight league games, we've also conceded in each of our five previous league games, so even at odds as short as 1.57, a bet on both teams to score still looks like a decent bet.