In this feature Spreadex Sports look at five bets/markets to look out for in the week ahead. This week, we will look at the latest football, cricket, and NBA action.

Note – the below prices are indicative and may be subject to fluctuation

FOOTBALL

1. English cup football takes centre stage this week as the EFL Cup will provide us with a clash of Premier League heavyweights, as Man City take on Chelsea. In a battle of the blues, it will be City coming in as heavy favourites to progress at the Etihad, with Chelsea losing two of their last three and causing manager Graham Potter headaches. City have won the last two meetings between these sides 1-0, while Chelsea won three on the bounce before that. In the last meeting, it was Kevin de Bruyne who scored the only goal of the game, and we have the Belgian priced at 11/8 to net anytime again, with a Player Goal Minutes spread of 11 - 14.

2. Burnley will be looking to bounce back from their hugely disappointing defeat to Sheffield Utd in the league at the weekend, and now have a break from league action as they host Crawley at Turf Moor and will be understandably confident of progressing to the next round of the EFL Cup. The defeat on Saturday ended the Clarets long unbeaten run, and they will be hopeful of using that disappointment as fuel against a Crawley side who ship a significant amount of goals recently. Four of their last five matches have seen at least four total goals scored, with one match featuring seven and two featuring five. Against higher quality opposition here, that trend may well continue. We have Total Goals at 3.35 - 3.55 and Total Goal Minutes at 167 - 182.

3. Man Utd host Aston Villa just a handful of days after falling to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Unai Emery's side, with the Spanish manager having the perfect start at the helm. Will Utd turn the tables and progress in the EFL Cup, or will Villa produce consecutive shocks and dump them out at Old Trafford? The away side are available at 17/4.

Rugby league

4. The Rugby League World Cup action continues this week with the semi-final lineup now set - Australia will be taking on New Zealand, and England will be taking on Samoa. Australia and England come into their fixtures as heavy favourites, but could there be a shock in either of the semis to see an underdog finalist? We have Australia/New Zealand supremacy at 12 - 15, and England/Samoa supremacy at 7 - 10.

England have faced Samoa on four previous occasions and won every time, with a dominant 60-6 win last time out. We have England to win here again by 46-50 points at 50/1. The Australia - New Zealand match-up has been slightly less one-sided, with Australia winning four of five but with the last two being split. New Zealand grabbed a 26-24 win in 2018, and you can back them to win by 1-5 points at 9/1!

CRICKET

5. This week sees semi-final action in the T20 Cricket World Cup as England face off against India and Pakistan take on New Zealand. The latter will take place first and will see a fascinating contest between the fastest scorers of this edition (8.89rpo for New Zealand) against the second-most economical bowling attack (6.55rpo for Pakistan). New Zealand will begin as slight favourites with a supremacy spread of New Zealand/Pakistan 2 - 10, with match Multi-Sixes at 28 - 33.

The second semi will be just as tightly contested and looks to be a toss-up. The last five matches have seen three India wins and two for England, so there will be added motivation for England here. The match supremacy spread stands at India - England 0 - 8. Who will end up reaching the big final?

Note - Spread Betting losses can exceed deposit