Frontline Football Blog

Blackburn Rovers striker Benjani wants to repay Sam Allardyce's faith in him and fire the goals to help propel his new side up the Premier League table this season.

The 32-year-old Zimbabwe international has struggled to get first team football of any kind over the last two seasons, with only 26 appearances during that period.

After showing goalscoring form at Portsmouth he was snapped up by Manchester City, but a combination of bad luck with injuries and also the Eastlands' club's big-spending to attract players to win the Premier League title meant he did not get a look-in.

Benjani spent a period of time on loan at Sunderland but it was not fruitful, and the striker is now looking to recapture his previous glory at Ewood Park. Although the Premier League top scorer odds suggest he won't make it to the 20 goal mark, he could get into double figures.

He has told the Lancashire Telegraph he has come to Rovers to "prove myself" and is willing to "fight hard" for a first-team place under Allardyce.

"You need to work hard and repay any team that gives you an opportunity. I am no different and I want to make sure Sam Allardyce doesn't regret giving me my chance," Benjani said.

Charles N'Zogbia will have learned a valuable lesson during this transfer window. Never mouth off about your team unless you're absolutely certain of a move. With a proposed transfer to Birmingham falling through at the final stage, N'Zogbia now faces the prospect of spending at least the next four months stuck at a club who don't really like him.

The Frenchman didn't need to hand in a transfer request with Wigan. The club's owner Dave Whelan has made it clear since he has been in charge that he won't stand in the way of any of his players who get the chance of moving to bigger clubs. Whelan's only sticking point is that he demands interested clubs pay the right price for his players. The Premier League odds indicate Wigan will never win huge amounts of prize money, so the club has to balance the books somehow.

N'Zogbia could have stayed quiet and waited for bids to arrive while ensuring he stayed in Wigan's good books. After creating a fuss about moving and then failing to agree personal terms, N'Zogbia is stuck in a kind of limbo. The Frenchman's attitude won't have impressed many interested clubs and despite his obvious talent, teams won't be keen on taking on a problem player.

His manager at Wigan, Roberto Martinez, has made it clear, N'Zogbia faces a battle to get himself back into the first team. Although the Frenchman is one of Wigan's best players, in a season where the football odds suggest the club will face a relegation battle, team spirit will be integral to the club's survival.

Dave Whelan is from the old school, he won't be bullied by the 24-year-old upstart. If N'Zogbia keep whooping and wailing about a move then he could face a future in the Wigan reserves till someone takes a chance on him.

Although Manchester United have managed to sell more than 50,000 season tickets, they have failed to reach their target of 55,000 sales, and have not matched the sales figures they achieved last year.

Since United fans are currently involved in a mass protest against the Glazer family's continuing ownership, the difficulties that the club have had in shifting tickets could be seen as a one-off occurrence and not as part of a wider trend affecting the entire Premier League. United may be Champions League betting tips, but they can't get away with charging whatever they want.

However, with just four Premier League sides managing to shift their full allocation of season tickets this year, and clubs such as Wigan seeing already pitifully low attendances fall - only 60 Wigan fans chose to attend their side's fantastic victory away at White Hart Lane - is it finally time for clubs not to just look at freezing prices, but consider actually dropping them?

With many clubs still failing to reduce their wage bills to levels that are sustainable, ordinary fans are still the ones forced to pay the price for the outrageous wages on offer to Premier League players.

With the most expensive non-corporate level ticket in the Premier League currently costing £94 for a Category A game at the Emirates, and the recession continuing to hit the pockets of fans up and down the country, it is highly unlikely that fans will continue to pay out these kinds of prices in order to attend a single match. The best football predictions suggest that attendances will continue to drop until the issue is addressed.

Should clubs fail to realise that they are creating an unsustainable market, football fans may have to hope for a UEFA or FIFA intervention that sees players' wages capped at a figure that ensures that ticket prices will return to a sensible level.

So, you’re sitting with your mates, watching the soccer, and one of them proclaims: "You know what, Sydney FC are going to win this game 4-0". Fast forward to the end of the game and, wouldn't you just know it, Sydney FC have only gone and won 4-0, leaving your mate with a big grin on his face. Why, however, is his grin a little wider than usual? Well, that's because he acted on his prediction and placed an in-play bet when Sydney FC were only one goal to the good. You, on the other hand, are sitting there thinking that, although you're glad about the result, it doesn't feel quite as good as you simply didn't put your money where your mouth is.

With soccer games always throwing up shocks and surprises throughout the 90 minutes, and in-play betting markets offering bettors the chance to spice up the action by betting on events as diverse as who will score the next goal and who will be awarded the next corner, it's a great way to enhance the excitement of watching a game.

If, for example, you were watching a tight game and had a sneaky feeling about the identity of the next goalscorer, you could just have a quick look to check the odds, and then watch the rest of the action unfold on the edge of your seat as you wait for your bet to reach its conclusion.

So, when you’re sitting with your mates as the Asian Cup unfolds next year, perhaps watching that first Socceroos match against India, and a heated discussion kicks off about who will be the first player to get a goal during the game, you can wait a while (for as long as you dare) in order to assess which Socceroo looks on fire up front before placing an in-play bet to show your mates you're fully prepared to put your money where your mouth is when it comes to soccer.

Sound tempting? Well, the best place to be for in-play betting is Betfair. You can learn how to use Betfair on the Betfair Education website and it really is worth getting to grips with the process so you don't delay when you badly want to place your next in-play bet.

How quickly the wheel can turn!

Not so long ago, it appeared that Liverpool had finally moved forward after a horrendous summer that saw the club lurch from crisis to crisis.

But with Joe Cole already descending from the heavens and rejoining the mere mortals of Merseyside after a sending off and a missed penalty - and Javier Mascherano now on his way out of the club - Roy Hodgson must already be thinking of packing his bags and leaving a club which is seemingly always in a perpetual state of self-destruction.

Having seen off the threat of a mass exodus earlier in the summer by securing the future of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, Hodgson must have been caught blindsided by the decision of Dirk Kuyt to announce he wants to join Mascherano and jump ship. Although Kuyt has since committed himself to the Liverpool cause, it isn't exactly the most stabilising rumour to hit the dressing room and may have a ripple effect on the English Premiership betting.

With fans already suggesting that Hodgson will be under pressure unless his side are in the mix for the European places sooner rather than later, and the club still looking for a new owner, there must be concerns that the new man in charge will want someone to manage the club who they have chosen, thus representing a threat to Hodgson's job security.

With Hodgson clearly a man who will not be bossed around by interfering owners, and with his new club in dire need of a takeover to help secure a successful future, it is not the most unlikely scenario in the world that a new takeover may result in Hodgson's exit.

After falling out with manager Louis van Gaal, Argentine defender Martin Demichelis has been told he can leave Bayern Munich before the current transfer window closes.

Van Gaal opened the door for prospective bids by declaring "He can go if he wants to, it would be no problem for me."

Van Gaal's decision to leave the centre back out of their last game against Wolfsburg seems to have signalled the end of Demichelis' Bayern career. Various clubs throughout Europe have been mentioned as possible destinations for the 30 cap Argentina international.

Chelsea, Barcelona, Sevilla and Juventus are all reportedly monitoring the situation closely and should one of the two Spanish sides sign him, their odds for the title could greatly improve in the La Liga odds.

In his seven years in Munich, Demichelis has made over 150 appearances, winning four Bundesliga titles in that time as well as four German Cups and two German Super Cups. However, the defender's absence didn't affect the German champions in their 2-1 success against Wolfsburg on Friday and they are still favourites to win the league in the Bundesliga odds.

The defender first made a name for himself in his home country with River Plate. After coming through their famed youth set-up, Demichelis made over 50 appearances in the River first team.

Javier Mascherano's drawn out transfer saga appears to be nearing an end as his club Liverpool have entered talks with Barcelona.

The Argentinean was left out of his side's recent 3-0 defeat to Manchester City as his manager, Roy Hodgson, decided the midfielder wasn't in the right frame of mind.

It is believed that Barca had a bid of £16million rejected by the Merseyside club, who are holding out for nearer £25million. Barcelona shouldn't be surprised by the price tag as Mascherano has proven himself as one of the world's best ball winning midfielders of recent years.

The Argentina captain has made it known that he is looking to leave England and move to the warmer climes of Spain or Italy. He has assured Liverpool fans it has nothing to do with the club and was based purely on his wish to move from England.

Barcelona are looking to fill the void in their midfield left by Yaya Toure's departure to Manchester City. They are hoping to claim the La Liga title ahead of rivals Real Madrid again this season and the Spanish La Liga betting odds suggest they could be successful. Mascherano would be a perfect replacement for Toure as both like to sit in front of their defence and break up the opposition's play.

Mascherano has played nearly 100 games in his three years at Liverpool since joining from West Ham after his brief spell in London. It was widely believed the 26 year old would follow his former manager Rafa Benitez to Inter Milan but it appears now that last season's La Liga champions Barca are leading the chase. Hodgson will be hoping to resolve the player's future as soon as possible and not let the situation drag on.

Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez has stuck his neck out and signed Steven Caldwell in an attempt to bolster his struggling defence and help prevent the Latics suffering Premier League relegation.

The 29-year-old dropped out of the top flight with Burnley at the back end of last season and he was a free agent after leaving Turf Moor.

He has been on trial with Wigan for the last few weeks and he has now joined his brother Gary on the books at the DW Stadium.

Martinez's job could be hanging by a thread as Wigan have endured a defensive nightmare in their first two Premier League games. The Premier League relegation betting now suggests they are doomed.

A 4-0 home defeat to top flight new-boys Blackpool was followed up by a 6-0 thrashing at the DW Stadium to reigning Premier League champions Chelsea.

In both games the level of defensive ability showed by Wigan was shocking and Martinez will be hoping the arrival of Scotland international Caldwell can help shore up the leaky backline.

Marked out as a trouble maker back in Italy, Roberto Mancini may have pulled off a shrewd move by snapping up Mario Balotelli.

The 20-year-old made his Manchester City debut last night, coming off the bench to grab the only goal in a 1-0 win against Timisoara in Romania.

Although the fee of £24 million can hardly be described as a bargain, he certainly showed signs that he will be able to live up to his price tag. Next season he could be some people's Premier League betting tips to be top scorer.

Speaking about Balotelli's performance, Mancini said: "He had a great debut. I am happy he scored. He's a good player."

"He needs to improve of course and get to know everybody. It was the first time he had played with the team."
After the win, the latest Europa League prediction suggests City should do very well.

Quite how he gets on in the Premier League remains to be seen, although he did develop a reputation for spectacular outburst towards the end of his spell at Inter.

As three English sides get ready to play in the Europa League tonight, the fans, players and managers must all be asking themselves one question - what's the point of the tournament?

It's a moderate money-spinner admittedly, but not a very popular one. Fans don't really care for it unless their side reaches the latter stages, while the players and managers no doubt view it as vastly inferior to the Champions League in every respect.

The competition also features far too many games the group stage, which is rendered largely pointless when the third-placed Champions League sides enter the competition in the round after, sees sides playing six games. A straight knockout format may not be as lucrative, but it would be much more straightforward. The latest Europa League betting is also impacted by sides entering from the tournament's bigger brother, making it less fun for punters.

Speaking of straightforward, the tournament has to be one of the most complicated around. Try and explain to someone exactly how it works - including the preliminary rounds - and see how much sense it makes then.

The UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup did need to be merged, but the resultant tournament should have always remained a straight knockout competition. Bigger isn't always better and in attempting to create a second tier of European football that can generate as much cash as possible, UEFA has in fact ending up devaluing the whole thing.

There's no doubt fans of Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City will be annoyed if their sides lose tonight, but after a brief period of reflection they will shrug their shoulders and decide that they haven't missed out on much other than a run of games their players can do without. Those who bet on football games will be more upset.