This weekend’s football promises to be exciting or dangerous, depending on your viewpoint. There are several games where the results could go either way, including one or two with short priced favourites. Most sides have players out injured or suspended while Newcastle surprisingly will be without a manager.

Aston Villa (6/5) at home against West Brom (14/5) looks to be an interesting game with Villa finding it difficult to score goals.  Villa go into this game with a record of no wins from five outings while West Brom will be riding the confidence train following a good win over Newcastle.  The one saving grace for Villa is that the Baggies haven’t beaten them here in eight attempts. That’s a record that’s overdue to be broken – bag some good value by backing the Baggies to win.

In the Everton – Wigan game you will need to ask whether backing two losers against each other is really worth the risk.  Everton have only won three games all season and only two at home. Wigan (8/1) have been better on the road, but really, save your money and look elsewhere. Everton at 4/9 are just too short. If you must have a bet, the draw at 7/2 looks good.

The West Ham (7/2) – Manchester City (5/6) game also looks interesting with West Ham still grinning following their surprise win over Chelsea recently. City are without star striker Tevez and it’s hard to see where they score goals.  Online bookmakers are treating this game with caution and so should punters. The draw at 13/5 looks to be the best bet here.

Our final game for review today is the one between Newcastle (14/5) and Liverpool (11/10). Generally, when a manager is sacked, the players come out and win the next game. I expect to see them get well and truly thrashed. Their manager was well liked and was delivering results so it’s hard to understand why he was sacked – and that seems to be the views coming out of the dressing rooms as well.  Liverpool on the other hand are starting to build some form and a top five finish is not out of the question. Liverpool to win.