Football Association look in Accrington v Bury betting pattern

The Football Association have announced they will look into the Accrington V Bury game after it emerged some bookmakers stopped taking bets on the Coca-Cola League Two clash on Friday after a raft of bets on the Shakers to win.

We also had a punter highlight this game early on Friday evening on our forum that we share with BestofTheBets.com and one punter working in the industry was able to confirm that Will Hill had suspended betting.

Subsequently both William Hill and Coral suspended betting markets on the game, while Betfair also reported unusually high amounts being placed on the clash.

Andy Bishop scored both goals for the visitors in Saturday's clash, and Accrington boss John Coleman refuted allegations that some of his players had been out on a stag party the night before the game.

After the loss, he said: "It's rubbish. There were rumours flying around about a stag do but it is not true. "We kicked into the game and gave our very best for 90 minutes."

The FA's director of communications Adrian Bevington revealed they would be speaking to the bookmakers over the allegations. He said: "This was a very unusual betting pattern - if the allegations are true. We were made aware of the situation on Friday.

"We will look very closely at the information Betfair and other bookmakers provide and take any subsequent action with the Football League and the two clubs concerned."

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The Sheet - English Football - Jan 2nd

There are two games on Tuesday - and the sheet calculates that mathematically both of the favourites are likely to win and are also at better than fair value.

Arsenal v Charlton
Arsenal are considered 89% likely to win this game by the sheet - that might be a little overdone as Arsenal have a significant injury problems - and that could also explain the price of 1.30.

But still Arsenal do have the weapons to win this game and are obvious favourites.

PICK : ARSENAL (89%) at 1.30 at PremierBet

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Aston Villa v Chelsea
Chelsea might be conceding a few goals - they have let in two goals in each of the last four games - but they are scoring plenty too - and with 10 goals scored that's impressive attacking.

In comparision Aston Villa have lost four games in a row - and if you think that Chelsea are wobbling then Villa are in freefall.

PICK : CHELSEA (69%) at 1.60 at Interwetten

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OK - let's see if we can pick up a pair of wins on Tuesday eh?

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TheSheet - England - Dec 30th

(Click the image to see the sheet in full size)

DISCUSSION
No-one should be too surprised by what you see there ...

Three home win picks in :
- Chelsea (74%) to beat Fulham @ 1.22 at Ladbrokes
- Bolton (62%) to beat Portsmouth @ 2.05 at Canbet
- Man United (71%) to beat Reading @ 1.21 at Globet

(oops - apologies for the earlier typo)

Theoretically the sheet says that both Chelsea and Manchester Utd are not at fair value (rated at 86% and 90% value respectively) when it compares their dominance to a 9 year history of similar games - as the favoured team only wins about 7/10.

But I still expect to see a huge number of accumulator bets with these two teams paired up - and it will probably payoff too.
(which makes it twice as hard to preach about value betting on the forum)

Three possible value plays in :
- Tottenham (49%) to beat Liverpool @ 2.70 at PaddyPower
- Sheff_Utd(22%) to surprise Arsenal @ 7.50 at SportingOdds
- Everton (51%) to beat Newcastle @ 2.25 at Betsson

OTHER GAMES :
Arsenal (57%) are the only away side given a good chance of winning when they travel to face Sheffield United but the price of 1.53 (at Ladbrokes) is very bad value - as the bookies anticipate plenty of money following the Gunners and have offered a lousy price.

However one other away side worth a possible punt is Wigan Athletic (40%) to win at Watford because the 2.70 price (at PaddyPower) is better than the 2.50 fair value price.

Good luck with your Saturday punts.

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Top Managers Betting on Football ?

The Football Association is to investigate allegations that several Premiership managers have laid bets on top-flight matches. FA rules forbid managers and players betting on competitions they are involved in.

"We will see if there has been any breach of our regulations and we would welcome any information that would help our inquiries," said an FA spokesman.

The claims were made by a former employee of bookmakers Victor Chandler but the bookmaker has obtained a High Court injunction prohibiting the naming of the managers accused.

"He wants to maintain his clients' right to privacy," said PR guru Max Clifford, who has been representing Gibraltar-based Chandler.

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Gooner says :

You might well think that HARRY REDKNAPP would be at the top of that list ... but I cannot possibly comment ...

But we can recommend VCBet as a good place to have a punt ... eh Harry ??

;-)

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