The Premier League can be a strange place at times and none more so than this weekend where there are a host of peculiar goings on in the betting jungle.
The most high profile odds compiling blunder in the latest round of fixtures comes at Anfield where Liverpool are a toe-curlingly short 2.25 to beat near neighbours Everton but the best value is to be had 24 hours earlier when West Brom host Blackpool and quite how the hosts are odds on is beyond me.
It wouldn’t take long to find out which top flight English team has lost its last six matches in all competitions, the latest of which was an FA Cup defeat at Reading, but it’s unfathomable how the Baggies are 1.80 to snap that run with victory on Saturday against a team well above them in the standings and it’s time to bet like men.
West Brom have won plenty of fans this season with their refreshing brand of football on return to the Premier League, manager Roberto Di Matteo has taken plenty of plaudits, but points mean prizes and in the home side’s case that means survival.
Half a dozen defeats on the spin are not good news for any team, especially one of West Brom’s fragility, and they now face a Blackpool side with a real spring in their step. That owes much to Ian Holloway, their wonderfully inspirational leader, and the Tangerines arrive in the West Midlands on the back of victory over Liverpool.
Blackpool could well have crumbled under early Reds pressure when Fernando Torres fired Kenny Dalglish’s charges into a third-minute lead at Bloomfield Road on Wednesday but with Holloway at the helm the newly promoted club simply don’t lie down and the three points gained has hauled them into ninth place.
With two games in hand over a couple of teams in the top half, Blackpool could be forgiven for thinking their efforts to stave off relegation were complete but there’s a long way to go and, if they really put their minds, and feet, to it then a push for a Europa League place isn’t out of the question.
European talk in the off-season was downright ridiculous but Blackpool have an abundance of quality going forward with Charlie Adam feeding the likes of DJ Campbell and it’s no fluke they currently reside closer to the summit than the trap door.
While Sunday’s fixtures grab all the attention this weekend, and quite rightly so, the purists (I’m not joking) should head to The Hawthorns on Saturday for real footballing entertainment and surely the visitors will be good enough to earn at least a share of the spoils.
On all recent available evidence they’ll get it and you won’t get many better punting opportunities than this between now and the end of the campaign.
5pts Lay West Brom (vs. Blackpool) @ 1.80 (Betfair)