Weekend Predictions: Goalscoring Return For Robbie Keane?

By: Daryl | February 6th, 2009

Here are last week’s predictions (in italics) with actual results afterwards (in bold) and then my lame excuse for getting it wrong after that:

Liverpool vs Chelsea, 1-1, ~~3-0~~ 2-0. I’m blaming Mike Riley and that Lampard red card.

Hamburg vs Bayern, 1-2, 1-0. It’s not my fault Luca Toni can’t finish.

Numancia vs Real Madrid 1-3, 0-2. Correct result and margin of victory, so cut me some slack.

Over on Bet Offside, old Offshore Oscar seems to be enjoying more luck. Maybe he stole mine? But I’m not jealous. Or at least I’m pretending not to be.

Here are my efforts for this week:

Spurs vs Arsenal, Feb 8th, 16:00
Got to love the North London derby. Especially when it produces games like the 4-4 draw at The Emirates in October. This time it’s all about two new signings. Robbie “just had this horrible dream where I was a sub at Liverpool” Keane and Andrei “women shouldn’t drive” Arshavin. The Irishman will definitely play for Spurs, while the out of practice Russian possibly won’t play for Arsenal.

Odds: Spurs 2-1, Draw 9-4, Arsenal 7-5
Spurs winning at H/T, draw at F/T 11-1
Robbie Keane to score first 13-2
Robbie Keane hat-trick 80-1
Billy Gallas to score first 28-1
2-2 draw is 10-1
More odds at PaddyPower, where they “will refund all losing 1st/last goalscorer, correct score & scorecast singles” if Robbie Keane scores the last goal of the game.

Prediction: I see another draw, 2-2 this time, with Arsenal coming from behind. Offshore Oscar feels differently, and predicts an Arsenal win.

Marseille vs Bordeaux, Feb 8th, 20:00
Bordeaux are the form team in France right, unbeaten in Ligue 1 in 2009 – and consistently scoring at least two goals a game. They have pretty much a full strength squad to call on – including everyone’s favourite streaker Yoann Gourcuff and Argentinian goal machine Fernando Cavenaghi. They sit second, just one point behind leaders Lyon.

Marseille are in fourth, but will be missing first choice strikers Mamadou Niang and Bakari Kone. Double whammy. So OM’s fading title bid could be done and dusted by Monday, unless they can find a few goals from somewhere else.

Odds: Marseille 11-10, Draw 2-1, Bordeaux 9-4
Marseille winning at H/T, Bordeaux at F/T is 35-1
Bordeaux to win 2-0 is 20/1
More odds at PaddyPower

Prediction Bookies think it will be close, but I’m feeling a 2-0 away win for Bordeaux.

Forfar Athletic vs Rangers, 8th February, 12:15

David vs Goliath in the Scottish FA Cup tomorrow. Rangers are, well, Rangers, while Forfar are third from bottom in the Scottish Third Division (the fourth tier of Scottish football).

Forfar boss Dick Campbell has taken advantage of the fact that the Rangers players have never heard of any of his boys and named his starting XI three days early.

Can David topple Goliath? No, of course not. It’s more like “How long will David last until Goliath brutally murders him?”

Odds: Forfar 20-1, Draw 7-1, Rangers 1-8
Rangers to win 6-0 is 25-1
Rangers to win 4-1 is 14-1
0-0 draw is 20-1
Forfar to win 2-0 is 100-1
More odds at PaddyPower

Prediction: A 4-1 win for Rangers (14-1). Ah, the romance of the cup.

Predictions of your own? Let us know in the comments…

Also, Offshore Oscar is looking for someone to pit his picks against on Bet Offside. If you’d like to blog about your picks then send an email to daryl[at]theoffside[dot]com