Tottenham Hotspurs travel to Birmingham today in what should be an interesting game of football. The home side have certainly surprised many with their form in the top league following promotion at the end of last season. Spurs have also performed far better than last season after languishing in the bottom half of the table for much of the season.

Bookmakers have posted Tottenham as early favourites with best prices being around the 11/8-6/4 mark. The home side are showing odds of 2/1-11/5. Away games are always difficult and Spurs will find this a difficult ask. The draw at 5/2 looks tempting and is worth consideration. Our tip – Birmingham to take the three points.

It’s actually an interesting round of football with several upset wins more than likely. Our tips for the weekend:

Fulham (7/4) – Aston Villa (7/4): Villa need the win to stay in touch with top six. Fulham are playing well in the middle of the pack and at home, will trouble Villa. As the betting suggests, a close call. Villa by a whisker.

Hull (7/5) – Wolverhampton (23/10): The battle for relegation honours – or at least – the battle to escape. Wolves played well early in the season, but have since faded. Hull seemed to be rebuilding before falling back again. Hull in a close game and only because they are at home.

Liverpool (5/11) – Bolton (8): The Reds should be all over Bolton – a easy and much needed three points for the home side.

West Ham (6/5) – Blackburn (11/4): West Ham have struggled of late while Blackburn have been at least consistent. Away from home is their downfall – The Hammers to break free of the drop zone with three points.

Wigan (12/5) – Everton (11/8): The Toffees come into this game on the back of some strong performances. Wigan at home have proven hard nuts to crack. This could be a good game to watch – this could be a rare draw for the weekend.

Burnley (14) – Chelsea (3/10): Burnley are strong at home but Chelsea are even stronger, even away from home. And easy three points for the Premier League favourites.

Good luck and happy punting.

Offshore sportsbooks are prepared to take Serena Williams on in the Australian Open, easing her price to 2/1. Meanwhile, Justine Henin may well move into favouritism with bookies following the defeat of Kim Clijsters. Much has been made of her exit, and she did play poorly, but if you look at rankings for this tournament, she was seeded 15 while her opponent was seeded 19. Whichever way you look at it, she is gone and now it’s down to just the two of them – at least when it comes to betting markets it is.

There have been some good contests in the women’s Open so far. Venus Williams has been fairly clinical. Serena Williams is in cruise control; Justine Henin is having to play good tennis every match; and Dinara Safina is cruising behind the lot of them. She could be a dark horse in this event. If you follow the money, she has more than halved her opening quote and is now in to 9/1 on some markets (you can get as much as 15/1 if you shop around a bit).

Venus Williams has moved into third favouritism at 7/1 and is looking good. Henin still looks the one to beat in my books. She is getting plenty of match time which will help to sharpen her game. While the Williams sisters are cruising through their games, the lack of any serious competition may not toughen them enough for the finals. We are in for a top second week tennis in the Australian Open – tomorrow we will review the men’s side of the draw.

The first Grand Slam event for the year gets underway in Melbourne tomorrow with the start of the Australian Open. Bookmakers are keen to take on Andy Murray in the event – and why not? His form is below his best by a long way. However, Grand Slam events often deliver surprise results. Shop around and you will find several bookmakers offering money back should Murray win.

The Australian Open betting odds are more open this year, which makes for great punting. The favourite this year is the master, Roger Federer, at 3/1. However, bookmakers are wary of rival Rafael Nadal and have opened him at 4/1 second favourite. Few will forget last season’s epic battle where Nadal eventually wore down Federer to take this event. Here’s an early prediction – Federer and Nadal to meet again with this year’s result reversed.

Andy Murray has slipped to number five in world rankings but he comes into this event priced at 13/2. I think he is a little under the odds at that price given his latest form. World number three Novak Djokovic is next in the betting at 17/2 with the most improved player in men’s tennis and world number four, Juan Martin Del Potro, quoted at 9/1. He is well over the odds I think and could be a good value bet if you are looking for someone outside the top two.

The women’s open has finally got a new lease on life with several players coming into this event with good form. Serena Williams is the early favourite although she has already had the staggers in the markets. She has drifted out to 10/3 just ahead of US Open winner Kim Clijsters at 4/1. Justine Henin is next best at 13/2 but the two to watch are on the next line of betting at 10/1.

Maria Sharapova is slowly returning to form and looks to be ready for this event. The player most dubbed the best to have not won a major is Elena Dementieva and she showed her form by making quick work of disposing of Serena Williams in the final of the Sydney International late last week. Her form is such that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see her win.

Williams seems to be hampered by injuries and may not make the distance. Clijsters, well, she just keeps on winning; Henin has a win around the corner somewhere – will it be here? Perhaps; while Sharapova may need more match fitness. Look for her later in the year.

Dementieva is great value at 10/1 while Clijsters could make a good back up bet. Imagine the return on a Dementieva-del Potro double – 140/1 and it’s really quite feasible.

Liverpool’s season has gone from bad to awful thanks to a home ground defeat in the FA Cup. In fact, bookmakers have written them off for the season now. What made it worse was that it was thanks to a lowly ranked Championship side. Reading booked a place in the fourth round with a shock 2-1 win over the Reds, leaving them to wonder what can go wrong next.

I think their next wake up will come a knocking on Saturday when they travel to Stoke in the Premier League. Stoke can be hard to beat at the best of times when at home. If Liverpool are at all brittle then Stoke will test them right out. Although it’s early days, Stoke at home at 4/1 in football betting against a shell shocked Liverpool has to be worth a bet or two. You can bet Stoke will start shorter than the 4’s currently on offer.

In Premier League betting, Liverpool are now out to 66/1 to win the title – they may as well be 1000/1 – no one can see them coming back now. Chelsea are now odds on favourites to take the title having firmed into 18/19. Manchester United are still second pick at 11/4 and there is still a little interest in Arsenal at 9/2.

Manchester City are still in the betting at 14/1 although Spurs, who are only a point behind City are well out at 40/1. The real sting for Liverpool is that they have now been dropped from most people’s ‘big four’ list. Manchester City has crept in to replace them with top four betting, relegating Liverpool to equal fifth with Spurs.

Are the Reds gone for the season? The bookies seem to think so.

The SBS Championship gets under way today, one of the first golf tournaments of the year and bookmakers have a wide open betting market on the tournament. Often labeled the ‘kiss of death’ tournament, most winners over the last ten years have followed up with fairly poor seasons. Last season’s winner, Geoff Ogilivy had one more win on the circuit (the World Match Play Championship) then failed to gain a top five finish for the rest of the year.

It seems many of the top golfers from around the world bypass this tournament – because of its reputation? Perhaps. It could also be that the top golfers are not ready to play so close to the holiday season and when they do return, they win the majority of tournaments – that’s why they are the top golfers. The winner of this tournament doesn’t get a look in again.

The favourite this year is Steve Stricker at 8/1 with last season’s winner Ogilvy second pick at 10/1. Sean Ohair, Retief Goosen and Zach Johnson are next at 14/1. There are only 28 starters in this year’s event and with no half-way cut, those odds of 8/1 and 10/1 are pretty good.

At the odds on offer, you can back three or four on straight out markets and still make a profit. In fact, if you were to back each golfer for a similar return, you can back the top ten golfers and still record a profit. On each way markets, you can back the top four in the markets and still record a profit.

Our tip for this event. Select a handful of players most likely to win and vary your bets to back them all to win an equal return. These are the types of events where, with bookmakers offering favourites at long odds, you can always come out in front if you work at it.

I think there are times when we have to start feeling sorry for some of our celebrities. I know, they bring it on themselves, but still – take Tiger Woods, for example. Bookmakers have released markets for just about every move in his life. You can even bet on where he is going to spend Christmas Day.

Don’t get too excited. If you were hoping for a little gossip thrown in you will be disappointed. I can imagine some bookies going overboard – at home with his wife even money, with one of his mistresses 10/1, with more than one of his mistresses 20/1, on his own 100/1. Actual betting has him in the US at 1/3; in Sweden at 3/1; and, believe it or not, on the North Pole at 100/1.

For more serious betting, you can bet on which tournament he resumes playing at; how many majors he wins in 2010; the next sponsor to drop him; the next sponsor to pick him up (may be an opportunity there from some corporation to pick him up cheap); and whether or not he will officially retire from tour golf altogether.

These are only some of the bets being offered around Tiger Woods. Some of the betting options have fairly attractive odds too. Tiger to win one major in 2010 is at 5/2 whilst winning two majors is even better at 7/1. However, returning to golf is one thing, getting back into that winning spirit is something else.

There are a lot of special bets on offer when it comes to Tiger Woods. Is that your kind of betting?

Portsmouth may be sitting at the bottom of the league table but bookmakers are not taking any chances with them following their strong performance against league leaders, Chelsea, midweek. They host Liverpool today in a match that could be an interesting one to watch.

Pompey are at 5/1 to win with Liverpool easing at 8/13. Prior to the midweek game against Chelsea, Portsmouth were at 10/1 with Liverpool a short 1/2. The draw at 3/1 looks a good bet although a small wager on the home side wouldn’t go astray either.

Villa (4/9) short have an easy home game against Stoke (9/1) whilst Arsenal (2/9) should find things easier at home against Hull (18/1). Manchester City (4/7) are at home to Sunderland (6/1) and whilst a home win should be expected, don’t discard Sunderland too quickly – they are playing well. City to win a tight match.

Manchester United (8/13) face a testing away game to Fulham (6/1) this afternoon and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the home side take the points. United are looking a little tired and injury prone and road trips really do test teams out at this time of year. At home, United would be much shorter but online sportsbooks aren’t taking any risks – last week’s shock results have them wary this week – and rightly so. Fulham to spring another surprise.

Spurs (5/4) travel to Blackburn (12/5) in today’s final game for review and this could be another interesting result. The Rovers are tough to beat at home whilst Spurs have a pretty handy away record. In a tough game to call, I lean slightly towards a Spurs victory although the draw at 5/2 also looks tempting. A game that could go either way.

Another interesting weekend of football action with more reviews to come tomorrow.

The draw for the World Cup 2010 pools will take place tomorrow and bookmakers are already hard at work taking bets on the outcome. The draw itself is an interesting spectacle with plans put in place to ensure an even spread in each of the pools. France has not made it to the seedings so all eyes will be on who draws them.

South Africa as the host automatically take the number one seed and they have been joined by Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England. These teams will all head their respective groups. The other 24 qualifying nations have been placed in ‘pots’ according to their region. For example, the African and South American teams have been placed in one pot, the Europeans into a second pot and the rest into a third pot. Each group will then draw one team from each of the pots.

One of the changes to this draw is that no team will play another from their own region with the exception of Europe – even then they will only play against one other European side. This makes France the wild card – which ever group draws France knows they will have a real battle to reach the knock out stages.

Bookmakers have England at 13/2 to draw France; 11/2 to draw Chile and 13/2 to draw the USA side. World Cup 2010 draw betting aside, there is still plenty of interest in outright betting. This maybe an opportune time to place a few bets. You can bet these odds will change once tomorrow’s draw has taken place.

Spain are 9/2 favourites to win the final with Brazil second pick at 5/1. There has been plenty of money around for England and they are in to 13/2. The next best is Argentina at 11/1 and Germany at 12/1. It’s already being seen as a three horse race. What’s your tip for the final of the World Cup 2010 competition? This looks to be England’s best chance in many years – and 13/2 are pretty attractive World Cup 2010 odds!

When checking the various sportsbetting odds today I couldn’t believe the price being touted by bookmakers for Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Federer is way under at 4/9. I know he is playing at home in a tournament he has won three years running now – but 4/9 looks to be a little short.

Andy Murray on the other hand looks to be a great price. He is playing in the ATP Valencia Open following a six week injury break. I know this is his first tournament for six weeks but several of the other well ranked players have already fallen, making this a much weaker competition. At bookmakers odds of 7/5 – I think he is a great bet.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had to forfeit through injury; Gael Monfils and Victor Hanescu were both beaten leaving only Fernando Verdasco and Nikolay Davydenko as real threats. Verdasco is on the third line of betting at 7/1 whilst Davydenko is second favourite at 5/2.

Murray will be hoping that Djokovic has a poor week in Basel to help boost his chances of reclaiming the world number three title. Roger Federer is the clear favourite in that competition with Djokovic second pick at 9/4. You can write your own ticket for the rest of the field.

Whilst these players are all battling to secure victories in these tournaments, there is just as much action going on behind the scenes. There are three or four players trying to claim the final spot in the season ending Masters tournament in London. Only eight players qualify and is seen as one of the most important contests on the circuit. It will be interesting to see who eventually gathers in London at the end of this month.

Bookmakers are playing strange games with Liverpool at present so it can make it a little difficult to know when to back them and when to hold off. Over the last month they have shown reasonable form but not winning. Luck, of course (and we all know about the infamous beach ball incident), has also been against them.

On the weekend they came and surprised everyone, themselves included, but defeating last season’s champions, Manchester United. Tomorrow night they travel to Arsenal in the Carling Cup. Bookmakers have them outsiders at 5/2 with Arsenal hovering around the even money.

Looking at the Carling Cup outright markets, Chelsea are favoured at 4/1 from Manchester United at 5/1; Manchester City 6/1; Tottenham and Arsenal 8/1 and Liverpool 10/1.

Arsenal are tough at home but given Liverpool’s win over the weekend, will they be pumped up and ready to continue? It will be an interesting game – more so because of Arsenal’s recent lack of form.

Whilst punters and bookmakers have steered away from the Reds in the Carling Cup, the Europa League is a different story altogether. Liverpool are current favourites at 9/1 with last year’s winners Shakhtar Donetsk second pick at 12/1.

Back in the Premier League, Liverpool are 1/2 to finish in the top four; 1/9 to finish in the top six; and 6/4 to finish in the top three. Liverpool are 11/1 to win the Premier League outright.

The Reds surprised everyone last season by finishing second. This time last season Manchester United were down in the middle of the league tables struggling to put consecutive wins together – they went on to win the League. Liverpool showed over the weekend they can play well and that they can match it with the top sides. I don’t expect them to win the Premier League, but I am not writing them off when it comes to the Carling or Europa cups.

Of course, they have to win tomorrow night to stay alive – at 5/2, it may be the best bet all week!