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The first legs of the Champions League quarter finals are played on Tuesday and Wednesday with four of the teams coming from the English Premiership. Football betting sites are unusually busy because this is the first time in Champions League history that a single nation has had four teams remaining at this stage of the competition, the previous record being three.

Manchester United will have probably the easiest time with an away game in Roma. United are more or less joint favourites with Barcelona to win the title, according to key sports betting sites, and having the advantage of the second leg on home ground should prove conclusive.

Chelsea, the second favourites meet rank outsiders, Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Wednesday and should withstand the home team’s fan’s customary hostility/enthusiasm to dominate and clean up in the second leg at home.

The most interesting encounter of the first leg has to be Arsenal’s meet with Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday. Liverpool have been in eleven quarter finals and won eight while Arsenal have been in four and won only one. Liverpool do seem to have the knack of pulling every possible rabbit out of the hat on these occasions and must surely defy the bookies view that Arsenal are favoured to win. The second leg will be at Anfield on April 8 and will be a match sports betting fans will want to watch for sure.

If Liverpool and Chelsea advance to the semis they are scheduled to meet in a confrontation where the Blues will be out to avenge their semi-final defeats of 2005 and 2007 by the Reds in this competition.

Oxford and Cambridge take each other on again in the 154th annual University Boat Race run from Putney to Mortlake on Saturday 24th March. Boat Race betting sites are favouring the heavier crew, Oxford, to win with Ladbrokes offering 1-2 on the Dark Blues and  6-4 on Cambridge. William Hill gives 4-6 on Oxford while the Light Blues are quoted at 11-10.

Cambridge suffered a calamity with the withdrawal of Shane O’Mara on medical advice on Wednesday to be replaced by fellow-American, Ryan Monaghan at stroke. Even so, Oxford expect a tough challenge from last year’s winners, Cambridge whose resolve will be all the greater in the face of this adversity. Oxford will fiercely fight to regain their crown, however, and with three wins out of the last four years must be regarded as a pretty solid bet.

The weather is going to be rough at the 5.15pm start time with 20mph headwinds making it a difficult race for both teams. Cambridge are traditionally renowned for their use of technical skill over Oxford’s brute power and will be looking for an early lead with coach Dave Holland declaring that its not about being first to Mortlake, ‘It’s a race to be in front’.

Both coaches will be hoping their crews respond well to the bad weather with this being a key to the success of either team. Insiders are confident that Oxford will take it but they also quietly mention that they are not quite as confident as they would like to be.

Fabio Capello has reinforced his rule of iron over the England team by choosing Rio Ferdinand over John Terry as captain for tonight’s friendly encounter with France at the Stade de France. Rumours abound among sports betting enthusiasts that Terry is being punished for his antics at White Hart Lane last week when he took on the referee, Mike Riley, over his response to Ashley Cole’s disgraceful tackle on Tottenham’s Alan Hutton. Capello has stated that he regards England players, particularly the captain, as role models for young people and Ferdinand, now rehabilitated after various past delinquencies, is seen as a man who can overcome his weaknesses and take on the mantle of a responsible being.

David Beckham returns to the team and, in the process will gain his 100th cap joining the select few of godlike figures of Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Billy Wright and Peter Shilton. Opinion is divided on whether Beckham deserves to be among such exalted company but both Capello and the great man himself believe he will be in the next World Cup in 2010.

Meanwhile, the French coach, Raymond Domenech, appears to have chosen his team on the basis of astrology. He denies this but admits it is an influence on his thinking. ‘All parameters have to be considered’ he says. Perhaps online betting fans might like to follow his example in their efforts to determine the outcome of the match. Domenech (Aquarius with Virgo rising) has, in the past, attributed personal issues with Robert Pires to the fact that the French midfielder is a Scorpio and that this meant Pires always worked against him. There were no Scorpios in last night’s France’s B international against Mali nor are there any in tonight’s squad. Fortunately for England, Rooney and captain, Ferdinand, are both Scorpios. Capello’s genius knows no bounds.

This is just as well because Capello believes tonight’s match to be the hardest of England’s forthcoming three friendlies before the World Cup qualifying campaign. Following the French match England meet the United States in May and the Czech Republic in August. Both games are at Wembley. The England coach points out that France is a strong team and, on their home ground, will be a force to be reckoned with. Encouragingly, and revealing his strength as a manager, he welcomes this as a hard but rewarding test if we play positively.

Man Utd. v.  Liverpool   23 March - In the 44th minute of Sunday’s derby between Manchester United and Liverpool, Javier Mascherano was red-carded for dissent. Premiership betting fans would acknowledge that the home side had the edge at the time of the dismissal and it is unlikely that this incident affected the outcome of the match. Opinion is divided about the validity of referee, Steve Bennett’s response to Mascherano’s behaviour. Some say the Argentinean was merely asking a question, others recall that his persistent questioning of the referee’s decision over an earlier Torres yellow card amounted to harassment of Bennett.

Either way, the issue of player dissent is coming to a head. After Ashley Cole’s recent tantrum at White Hart Lane the subject is clearly on the current agenda for action by the Football Associations and all that remains to be decided is how best to handle it. Fair minded online betting enthusiasts realise that something has to be done.

The problem arises from the need to allow some leeway to these testosterone fuelled young men. It would be absurd to expect from them perfectly controlled responses to some of the things that happen in tense football matches, many of which would test the composure of a saint. It’s the question of where and how you draw the line that is testing the authorities. An outright ban will not alter the body chemistry of these fired-up young men and nor would we want it to. Nevertheless a clear boundary must be defined to reverse this decline into ill-natured and bad-mannered chaos. A brake needs to be applied to the excesses of players who, despite the stress of the moment, must be compelled to engender a degree of self-control.

I’ve always felt a good starting point would be to emphasise the futility of dissent. When did you last hear a ref say ‘Actually, now that you mention it and I’ve had time to reflect, that was indeed not a foul and I’ll be more than happy to withdraw the yellow card – thanks very much for pointing it out’? I would say, approximately, never. If this fact was driven home to players by their managers before matches it would be a good start. Financial, field advantage or points penalties could be used to reinforce this change of behaviour. What is without doubt is that some sort of change is imminent.

Pacific Life Open  On until finals Sun 23 March : British ace, Andy Murray is back in action this week at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells. The $3,589,000 ATP Masters Series Tournament is down to the last sixteen where Murray has clinched his place after a fierce battle with Croatian Ivo Karlovic. Tennis betting fans sweated as the match went to two tie breaks before Murray broke at 4-3 and then served out to win the final set and the match.

The British No 1 is looking to clinch his third title this year after victories in Doha and Marseilles. He now goes on to face Tommy Haas, who he has played only once before when he beat him in last year’s quarter finals, at around 21.00 GMT on Wednesday. Haas is recovering from shoulder surgery but, after defeating Roddick and Verdasco, looks to be recovering his form.

Murray is upset with his performance against Karlovic citing his own failure to control his temper. He felt he was giving way to his frustration and getting angry with the Croat although, in the final analysis, he was pleased he had finally been able to focus on his play and regain dominance. Murray returned well allowing only eleven aces from Karlovic, while his increased presence at the net enabled him to close down his opponent’s forceful play. Some excellent cross court passes and even a couple of lobs over the lanky Croat finally won the day for our man.

Murray can beat the best, as he has shown previously with dominance over Federer, as long as he can keep a lid on his temper. Sports betting fans will hope the lad is learning this lesson and can progress through to the finals of this event on 23rd March.

Over the past few weeks, cricket betting enthusiasts could have been forgiven for thinking that England are rubbish at just about every sport we attempt. We casually threw away two Six Nations rugby matches, gave New Zealand the One day International Series on a plate and then rolled over and died in the first Test Match - all this misery adding to our anguish over the bleak summer ahead because we didn’t qualify for Euro 2008.

And then, all of a sudden, we trash the Irish in the Six Nations and end up second in the table, not just beat but crush New Zealand in the second Test Match in Wellington, have four teams from the Premiership in the final eight of the Champions League and Hamilton wins the first Grand Prix in Melbourne. Blimey – what’s going on?

What’s going on is that England teams and individuals can do it when they decide they want to. There is a learning curve going on out there on this game psychology issue and hopefully they will make that decision more often. If so, sports betting fans have a juicy sporting summer coming up and England will feature very strongly in the winning stakes.

The first opportunity an England team has to show that they can sustain the winning urge is the cricket team in the Third Test Match at Napier beginning this Friday. The team knew they had let themselves and fans down in the first test and they got a grip in the second. Let’s hope they keep it together for the third and we can then come out of New Zealand with pride intact and be ready to take them on when they come to our shores this summer.

  Melbourne blog   Sunday 16 March - What should, at last, be an exciting season in Formula 1 racing opens in Melbourne on Sunday with the rivalry between former team-mates,  Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, set to explode now that Alonso has departed McLaren for his new home at Renault. Although Hamilton will be driving the more powerful car, Alonso will be relentless in his efforts to pick up points wherever he can.

Formula 1 betting fans will realise though, that Hamilton will be focusing all his attention on the Ferraris of Finnish driver, Kimi Raikkonen and Brazilian, Felipe Masse. Ferrari showed signs of engineering dominance toward the end of last season and it remains to be seen whether McLaren have kept up on the engineering front. Rumours abound that while Ferrari have the edge on the race pace, McLaren will have the speed advantage in qualifying and thus grid position.

Bookies are favouring Raikkonen in the pre-season but there can be no doubt that Hamilton will be very, very hungry for the title after last year’s near miss to the fiery Finn. Raikkonen won the Melbourne race last year and is bookies favourite again this season but Hamilton is genuinely convinced that the McLaren team preparation makes him favourite, at least in his own mind. Certainly observers of the Barcelona pre-season trials noted that Hamilton was a man possessed in getting everything from the car.

It’s going to be a great season with the two way assault on the title from Hamilton and Raikkonen with Alonso snapping at their exhaust pipes. Time to get out there now and take up some of those free bets offers for new customers from the myriad of online betting sites.

Cheltenham Festival, 12th March - Around 230,000 racegoers from all parts of the British Isles and further afield have made the pilgrimage to Prestbury Park for the 2008 Cheltenham Festival which began on Tuesday and runs through to its thrilling climax on Friday. During the course of the event, punters will consume 228,000 pints of Guinness and a lake of champagne. They will even be able to wager on the exact amount of Guinness that will be consumed this year, alongside all the other bets available to them.

Meanwhile, enthusiasts of online betting will gather in front of their tellies and consume a lot more than the home crowd. Armed with a laptop and a widescreen they will gather with friends and share the fun and celebration for which this festival is renowned. Online betting sites will surely bulge with the volume of bets made this week.

There’s too much fun to be had in the first three days to dwell too long on it but minds cannot be too far away from the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday. Provided the wind dies down a bit, this will be a once-in-a-decade racing moment when the champion, Kauto Star, is challenged by the fearsome Denman. There is no doubt that Denman will run an impressive race, but he will have to if he hopes to test the mighty Kauto.

Tuesday’s races all went the bookies way. The Champion Hurdle went to Katchit at 16-1 and favourites were no shows in all the other races too. With Wednesday’s racing cancelled due to forecast high winds everyone will be on tenterhooks to see whether the Gold Cup will actually run, meanwhile Cheltenham pubs will be anticipating a deluge of disappointed race-goers with a whole day to fill.

Dropping of Cipriani from the Scotland v. England Match on Sat 8 March rugby union betting buffs might have reacted with dismay to hear that Danny Cipriani, the Wasps fly-half was sensationally dropped from the England team for their match with Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday. Cipriani had been photographed leaving a London Nightclub in the early hours of Thursday morning, a clear breach of the rules for the team prior to a major game.

Arguably, the expulsion weakened the team and caused a dip in team morale which may have had some bearing on the woeful result with England losing 15-9 to a side widely predicted to be a contender for the wooden spoon prior to the series. On the face of it, a major error on the part of coach and manager Brian Ashton, as former coach, Sir Clive Woodward, former captain, Laurence Dallaglio and others have been quick to claim.

The bigger picture, though, may reveal that Ashton’s drastic action is exactly what English team sport needs if it is to wake up and be able to meet the challenges posed by world-class teams which train and perform in a different world to our own. On Saturday, the England Rugby team buckled under the onslaught of the Scots, on Sunday the England Test cricket team crashed to ignominious defeat in New Zealand. In the last West Indies test series, drunken loutishness was evident among some team members.

The online betting fan is tired of seeing his team capitulate at the first sign of serious demand on talent and preparation. Fed up with seeing overweight bowlers trundling down the wicket in the blazing heat, under-practiced fielders going through a random phase of dropping the ball at every opportunity or first-order batsmen succumbing to a lazy stroke, then blaming the pitch while the number 10 bat gets 45 runs.

It’s got to end somewhere down the line and perhaps Ashton’s action in imposing boundaries and sticking to them is the sort of measure which brings short term problems but, in the end will, at last, bring long-term gains.

World Cruiserweight Title, O2 Arena, 8th March - The boxing world, along with sports betting fans everywhere, seethes with anticipation for the World Cruiserweight Title match between David Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli at the O2 Arena this coming Saturday. Legendary promoter, Frank Warren, declares it to be the biggest all-British clash since Nigel Benn fought Chris Eubank in 1993. David Haye advises ‘If you’ve never been to a boxing event, this is the one to go to, no doubt about it’.

Online betting bookies favour Haye as a slight favourite but opinion is divided as to who will dominate here. Some say that, if Enzo can hang in there, he may be able to capitalise on Haye’s tendency to go ‘wobbly’ in later rounds. London’s Haye took the WBC and WBA cruiserweight belts from France’s Jean-Marc Mormeck in Paris last November and his only career defeat came in his eleventh fight where he succumbed to superior combat but has since shown no shortage of style or heart. All but one of his nineteen victories has come inside the distance.

Maccarinelli too has only one defeat on his CV, way back in his fourth fight. Twenty one of his victories have also been knockouts and these fighters both hit just as hard. As Maccarinelli put it, ‘We’ve got two boys who pretty much fight the same way – rip the other guy’s head off’. Frank Warren and both men insist this is a fight that sells itself. As Haye put it: ‘We don’t have to prove ourselves outside the ring, we’re two of the most aggressive fighters out there’.

Online betting fans please note Franks Warren’s final words on this, ‘We’ve got the two biggest punchers in world boxing facing each other - we’re going to see something very special’.