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Bournemouth can win again to pull clear

March 18th, 2017 | Ian Carnaby's Sports News

I have been uneasy about a large ante-post bet on Newcastle for a few weeks now and the comprehensive home defeat by Fulham will have had alarm bells ringing on Tyneside. All I would say is that sometimes these things can happen at the right time and Rafa Benitez will have had plenty to say in the aftermath.

NEWCASTLE go to Birmingham on Saturday and will feel that a win rather than a draw is essential, especially with Leeds and Brighton playing each other later on. Normally I’d leave the game alone but Gianfranco Zola (nice man, too nice a manager) has started very poorly at St Andrews and I feel Benitez will have things pretty well worked out.

The situation towards the wrong end of the table in the Premier League is fascinating and I still feel Watford are the dark horses to go down. This is not a good time to be visiting CRYSTAL PALACE, who have shown clear signs of a revival under Sam Allardyce. The point is that he has been here before and knows precisely what is required, whereas those in charge at Watford are merely hoping for the best. I’d make Palace shorter than 19/20, I can see them starting very strongly and another three points may well be coming their way.

In a way, Bournemouth v Swansea is harder to call because the Swans have improved under Paul Clement. But the Cherries are a decent home side, managed by a man who is future England material, and the 3-2 victory over West Ham gives no indication of their overall superiority. Bournemouth will be more or less out of danger if they win this, whereas Swansea will be right back in the dog fight. It looks close but BOURNEMOUTH are 5/4 against with a couple of firms and that is always tempting about the home team when sides are fairly evenly matched.

Watching Derby’s truly abject display against Brighton last week, I thought Steve McLaren was certain to go but most of us imagined he’d last more than a few more hours. It is hard to see him bouncing back this time; another nice man left behind by the modern game, especially in England.

I’m a bit of a sucker for 1-1 draws in local derbies. I imagine the statistics would prove me wrong but I invariably make the draw favourite and when Forest take on Derby earlier on Saturday the main danger to 1-1 may be 0-0…..if only football were like that. Still, it’s worth a ten units’ shout.

CRYSTAL PALACE 25 units at 19/20 to beat Watford
BOURNEMOUTH 15 units at 5/4 to beat Swansea
NEWCASTLE 15 units at 8/11 to beat Birmingham
Nottm Forest v Derby 10 units THE DRAW at 12/5
Nottm Forest v Derby 5 units the correct score 1-1 at 15/2

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