Carling Cup 30 & 31 Oct

West Ham v Coventry

West Ham currently are 11th in the Premiership with serious intentions on pushing themselves up the table. The Hammers will probably not field a full strength team as they will be looking to take nine points from their next three games against Bolton, Derby and Tottenham.

Coventry managed to put two past Sir Alex’s youths and they will be looking to put in a similar performance against West Ham tonight.

It makes this game very unpredictable and neither of the odds really favour each side and although the odds on West Ham are relatively long at 2.20, it certainly isn’t really worth the risk.

Liverpool v Cardiff

Cardiff are off form in the Championship having won just one of their last five. They will however be eager to proceed in the cup as the revenue generated by it is extremely great. Liverpool on the other hand have far greater concerns besides the Carling Cup, they are currently underperforming in both the Premiership and Champions League and will want to focus on those competitions.

One might imagine that that Liverpool will put out a weakened side on Wednesday yet one would still back Liverpool’s youngsters to perform against Cardiff. Odds of 1.34 on a Liverpool win aren’t worth anything whilst the +1.5 Asian Handicap is also not a safe bet on Cardiff.

Chelsea v Leicester

Chelsea will look to win this game, Avram Grant has certainly not had all the pressure taken off him yet and he will be looking to secure another Chelsea victory on Wednesday.

Leicester are not playing well at present, they have lost their manager Gary Megson to Bolton and will almost certainly slump to a defeat whatever quality a team Chelsea field. The odds obviously represent this with Chelsea at 1.23 and Leicester have a +1 ¾ handicap. The drubbing of in form Man City last weekend by Chelsea means that the handicap is also no safe bet.

Bolton v Manchester City

Bolton played very well against Aston Villa holding them to a one all draw. Gary Megson will want to claim his first victory at the helm of Bolton Wanderers. The Bolton players will all be playing as hard as possible in an attempt to impress Megson and one can see Bolton doing well in this game.

City meanwhile got trounced 6-0 by Chelsea at the weekend and will want to come back from the defeat. The Carling Cup is a competition that they can win and Sven will want to bring home some silverware for the fans.

The odds are very tight, Bolton are given 2.88 and City are given 2.66. It may well be worth an outside gamble on City as they are a side of such greater calibre than Bolton.

A one point bet on Manchester City to win at 2.66 is the recommendation.

[City won 1-0]

Luton v Everton

Everton are heavy favourites at 1.66 and at those odds the game really isn’t worth much. Luton will be pumped for this game but Everton are on pretty good form. It would be an extremely difficult game for Luton to get a result from but if Everton put out an inexperienced side an upset may occur.

The odds are not good enough and I can see Everton winning by a fair margin, as they did against Derby and Larissa, making any handicap betting useless.

Portsmouth v Blackburn

This is probably the toughest game to predict. Both Portsmouth and Blackburn are fully capable of winning this tournament and both will be looking to do so. They are both contending for UEFA Cup spots and by winning the Carling cup they can easily secure themselves a place in Europe and can take the pressure off in the Premiership.

The game will no doubt by extremely exciting and probably the best football game the 4th round has to offer. I would only bet on the game producing fewer than 2.5 goals as both teams will be cagey about conceding although the 1.88 odds are not friendly enough for such a punt.

Sheffield Utd v Arsenal

As usual Arsenal will field a team of youngsters. Arsene’s young guns however have made such a name for themselves that they are still priced at 1.72 to win. This price really is not too bad especially as the young Arsenal side managed only to lose to a full strength Chelsea side in the Carling Cup this year.

Sheffield are on poor form and 19th in the Championship, they’re minds will be on pushing up the table and not on seeking revenge for the controversial FA cup semi final defeat suffered by the Blades back in 2003.

Have a one point bet on Arsenal at 1.72 to win.

[Arsenal won 3-0]

Tottenham v Blackpool

Tottenham are heavy favourites at 1.31, they will be looking to win the game after a dreadful start to the season and new boss Ramos will want to start his campaign as Spurs boss on a high.

Of course you would back Tottenham to beat the newly promoted to the Championship Blackpool side. The odds however are not great, Tottenham are off form and they have a new manager so a game to leave alone I feel.