After we survived the end of the world on Saturday, ‘Survival Sunday’ now brings the curtain down on the Premier League campaign. But, before you panic, there is plenty of football action to satisfy your betting needs over the summer – if you look hard enough.
Of course, with no World Cup or senior European Championships to entertain us over what is apparently going to be a sizzling few months weather-wise in the UK, on the one hand it appears it will be a quiet June and July in the football world.
However, delve a little deeper and there is plenty to keep us interested aside from scurrilous transfer speculation and pointless pre-season tournaments.
The domestic campaign may well be pretty much done and dusted now but we still have the small matter of the Champions League final next weekend between Manchester United and Barcelona at Wembley to come before Reading and Swansea go head-to-head in the Championship play-off final.
Those two games are always among the biggest of the year and totesport will have plenty of markets available ahead of the Wembley showdowns.
Many expect Barca to claim another European Cup (4/9 favourites – Outright) but United are sure to have a game-plan to try and combat Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side and are good value at 13/8 to cause an upset next weekend.
The play-off final two days later looks a difficult one to call with both Reading and Swansea looking in fine fettle in their wins over Nottingham Forest and Cardiff respectively in the semi-finals but we feel the Royals may just edge out the Swans in this one and book a return to the top flight.
While those two games are sure to round off the 2010-11 domestic and European campaigns in style, the focus over the summer then switches to the Under-21 European Championship – in which England are well fancied in – before the Copa America gets underway at the start of July.
The U-21s gather in Denmark between June 11-25 in what is likely to be an entertaining competition featuring plenty of up-and-coming talent from across the continent.
Stuart Pearce is likely to take a host of Premier League players to the tournament, with Andy Carroll and Jack Wilshere just two top stars named in his initial squad.
The duo are among six players with senior caps in Pearce’s 40-man selection and, while some will inevitably be pulled out by their clubs when the squad is whittled down to 23, there is still enough talent heading to Scandinavia to mean England have a real chance of lifting the trophy.
Other sides to watch out for in Denmark include all the usual international heavyweights. Spain are the current 7/2 favourites but Germany, who are tipped to shine, represent excellent value at 9/2 while lively outsiders include Portugal at 16/1 and the hosts, who are a huge 66/1 to lift the trophy.
The Copa America, billed as “the most important football event in Latin America” by its official website, features all the top teams from that region.
Argentina, predictably, are the short-priced favourites (6/5) and as hosts will be difficult to beat. Brazil, as ever, will give it a go, though, and at 13/8 look appealing.
Others to consider include a highly-rated Chile outfit (10/1 outright) and World Cup semi-finalists Uruguay who, at 12/1, are the value here – especially if they can repeat their heroics of 12 months ago in South Africa.
So forget about the domestic scene for a few months, enjoy the weather (hopefully) and get stuck into some seriously competitive international action.
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