Top 5 bets for the weekend

Where does the Premier League weekend kick-off?

Leaders Chelsea go to a West Ham side experiencing their first mini wobble of the season, after three games without a win. They face a Blues side on a record run in London derbies, having won their past seven away, during which they’ve only conceded one goal. The Hammers conceded a late equaliser at home to Brighton in midweek, but their recent record against Chelsea is pretty good, having won three of their past six home games against the European champions.

Michail Antonio Anytime Goalscorer (boosted to 14/5)

West Ham’s top scorer has had a quiet time of late after a barnstorming start to the season, but David Moyes has backed his man to bounce back stronger than ever, and with our price boost on anytime scorer, we’ve seen plenty of punters agreeing with the West Ham manager.

Who is at the wheel for Man United this week?

Ole has gone, Carrick has served his time as the caretaker for the interim boss and also headed for the exit, and now the interim boss is ready to take over, as Ralf Rangnick assumes control of Manchester United as they welcome Crystal Palace to Old Trafford. That disastrous defeat at Watford that cost Ole his job has been followed by an upturn in form under Carrick, with a win at Villarreal in the Champions League, a draw at Chelsea and Thursday’s 3-2 win over Arsenal. Palace have enjoyed playing the role of party poopers when taking on the big boys of late, taking 7 points from 12 from the past 4 games with United, and they’ve already won in Manchester this season, beating City 2-0 at the Etihad.

Total Goal Minutes (141-151)

While United have shown signs of improving in the past couple of games, they are still struggling to keep clean sheets, and the midweek 3-2 win over Arsenal could have finished any score as both sides wasted chances and both keepers pulled off decent saves. We’ve seen buyers in a lot of the goals markets, and Total Goal Minutes has proved one of the most popular.

What's the big race of the weekend?

There are a coupe of decent races this weekend, with the Tingle Creek at Sandown and the Becher Chase at Aintree. The Tingle Creek is the biggest two mile race outside of the Cheltenham Festival, and while Shishkin doesn’t run, Willie Mullins’ Chacun Pour Soi and Dan Skelton’s Nube Negra are part of the five-runner race. Rachel Blackmore teams up with Henry de Bromhead once again on Captain Guinness.

Nube Negra (5/2)

While Chacun Pour Soi is the obvious favourite, the odds on price has put off value hunters, who have drifted to second favourite Nube Negra. He comes into this race on the back of a sublime performance at Cheltenham, where he beat Politologue by six lengths, but with less than three weeks between races, will he be good to go again?

Who is going to win the Davis Cup this weekend?

The self-styled World Cup of tennis comes to a conclusion on Sunday in Madrid, when Serbia or Croatia will take on Germany of the Russian Tennis Federation in the final. Great Britain missed out on a place in the final four this weekend, beaten by Germany, but this still should provide some exciting viewing for tennis fans. Serbia face Croatia in the first semi-final on Friday, while Germany and the Russian team face off on Saturday. The two wining teams then face each other over two singles and one doubled match for the right to lift the Davis Cup.

Russian Tennis Federation

Without knowing the finalists, it’s hard to have too much opinion on who will win the Davis Cup, but there’s no doubt the Russian team has looked top class. With US Open champion Daniil Medvedev and world number 5 Andrey Rublev representing them in the singles, Team Russia might be able to win the Davis Cup without needing a doubles team!

Can Lewis Hamilton still retain his F1 world title?

After a week off to draw breath, the most exciting F1 Championship race in years reconvenes on the streets of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Lewis Hamilton is now only eight points behind title rival Max Verstappen, but with only one race to go after this, it’s imperative he finishes ahead of the Dutchman once again to set up an almighty showdown in Abu Dhabi next week. It looked all over when Verstappen won the Mexico Grand Prix at the start of last month, but Lewis showed the heart of a champion to win in both Brazil and Qatar to ensure this is going down to the wire.

Lewis Hamilton Race Index (77-82)

At the business end of the season, there’s no one with more experience than Hamilton, and in the past couple of races, when Verstappen was thought to have the advantage with the quicker car, the battling Brit has come to the fore. It would take a brave man to back against Hamilton winning his third race in a row on Sunday, though the pressure will all be on him. If he finishes behind Verstappen it’s just about over, whereas the Dutchman will get another chance to see off Lewis next week if he can’t manage it in Jeddah.