Been a long time, been a long time.......

A period of consolidation took place last week.
Not only was our strike rate suffering from over elaboration but also personal lifestyle changes impacted upon the production of our blogspot.
These changes will impact how many are produced a week and also the depth into which we will be explaining our picks. It is imperative that followers stay tuned to ILOVESTEVEPALMER @FACEBOOK and @RUDGEY76 on TWITTER for up to the minute picks., links are available at the top of this page.

ALREADY ADVISED

6 NATIONS OUTRIGHT FRANCE

France remain the only unbeaten side in this years contest after 3 rounds of matches which puts them and us in an extremely strong position, our 7/4 now stands at 1/14 W.HILL, 1/25 BETFRED, 1/33 TOTESPORT and trading out looks absolutely unnecessary.

6 NATIONS NO GRAND SLAM WINNER

This is looking more unlikely with our ante post picks looking strong and everyone else beating each other.

WINTER OLYMPICS 2010 USA MEDAL TABLE WINNERS

Although Canada have won 5 more gold medals and are shown at the top of some tables, the USA are 11 overall medals clear and cannot be caught, we did not recommend topping the gold medal table but the overall so you can go collect on our 4/1 pick.

Midweek, on our Facebook page we stuck up Inter Milan to beat Chelsea (WON) and a F.A Cup replay double ASTON VILLA + W.B.A (West Brom went to E.T,) but at 13/8 for Inter we finished more than half a point up.

Fortunately, I posted no picks yesterday, because what I had in mind went up in smoke, Scotland losing in Rome and England sloppily losing at Twickenham and soccer picks probably wouldn't have gone much better, but let's put our necks back on the chopping block today.

CARLING CUP FINAL MANCHESTER UNITED v Aston Villa (3:00p.m k.o BBC1)
5/6 W.HILL 5/6 BETFRED 20/23 TOTESPORT

This pick will either carry a lot more confidence or a lot less confidence after hearing Sir Alex Fergusons team selection.
If Rooney, Valencia, Berbatov all start and a strong midfield containing Carrick, Scholes and Fletcher dominate, I can only see Man U winning the lions share of the possesion and eventually the game, quite cosily. Villa have good players, but there record against top four clubs is not great and although their League Cup record stands up to scrutiny, I believe a runners up medal is all that will be available to Young, Agbonlahor and co.

SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE CELTIC v Rangers (12:30p.m k.o SKY SPORTS)
11/5 W.HILL 11/5 BETFRED 7/2 TOTESPORT

SCOTTISH football, SCOTTISH football I hear you cry.
Despite my lack of interest or respect for the level of scottish soccer, these games are well worth a watch just for the atmosphere generated by those loonies north of the border. Throw into the mix Robbie Keane's first appearance in a Glasgow derby, you just know he is gonna get the winner (6/4 anytime W.HILL, 7/4 TOTESPORT worth a small interest)

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE EVERTON v Tottenham Hotspur (1:00p.m k.o ESPN)
14/5 W.HILL 11/4 BETFRED 11/4 TOTESPORT

Everton have won 3 of their last four visits to White Hart Lane and their current form after a very slow start to the Premier League campaign has easily been on a par with Tottenhams and Villa's and Man City's and the price just looks a little dismissive.

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CLUB CHALLENGE LEEDS RHINOS v Melbourne Storm (6:30p.m k.o SKY SPORTS)
23/20 W.HILL 5/4 BETFRED 13/10 TOTESPORT

Leeds have won this game twice in recent years, beating the Storm in one of those and will be looking to reclaim the trophy after last years windswept loss to Manly Sea Eagles. The NRL sides that travel half the world to play these games are always in close season and Leeds should be well into their stride after 4 weekends of Super League action. The biggest worry is the fact that so far in this seasons domestic competition, the Rhino's top the table for penalties conceded. but if they keep those to a minimum we'll have a good run for our money.

Remeber to keep track of picks on our FACEBOOK and TWITTER pages, links available at top of page.

More soon, C'MON!!!