Soccer Betting Podcast

Billi (@LockBettingSS) breaks down the Matchday 27 EPL slate. Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League table may have been cut to just two points by the time they take to the Emirates pitch on Sunday, as closest rivals Manchester City play Leeds on Saturday. Back-to-back draws with Brentford and doomed Wolves had led to the suggestion that Arsenal could be bottling it in the title tussle but an emphatic 4-1 North London Derby win last weekend has eased those concerns.

Mikel Arteta’s side now face another local rival this weekend as Chelsea visit, but the Gunners have dominated this fixture in recent years. Arsenal beat Chelsea in both legs of their EFL Cup semi-finals in January and February and have won seven of the last 10 head-to-head meetings. The league leaders have also won 10 of their 13 home league games, losing just once, and have won each of their last four home games against Chelsea.

Real Madrid bring a 1-0 first-leg back to the Bernabeu for an eagerly anticipated return clash with Benfica in the Champions League Play-off round on Wednesday.The first match in Lisbon was marred by an incident of alleged racism toward Vinicius Junior and Uefa have provisionally suspended Gianluca Prestianni “without prejudice” for one game pending a thorough investigation.Los Blancos have not been convincing in the Champions League this season, but it is usually around this time that they start to hit their stride. They sputtered through the league stage last year with three losses in eight games before turning it on in the knockouts against Manchester City and Atletico Madrid.

Billi addresses Jim Ratcliffe's recent "colonisation" comments, before moving onto to previewing tonight's trip to Everton. Manchester United’s winning run was stopped by West Ham last time out, but the Red Devils remain on the right path under interim coach Michael Carrick.The Red Devils have yet to lose since he stepped into the dugout to replace Ruben Antorim in January and four wins and a draw have given the Red Devils every chance of finishing in the top four.

Billi (@LockBettingSS) breaks down the Matchday 27 EPL slate. Draws in Arsenal’s last two Premier League matches against Brentford and Wolves have left the door ajar for Manchester City to steam towards the title, and they look unlikely to reject the opportunity to narrow the gap to two points when they face Newcastle on Saturday night.Pep Guardiola’s side needed a late goal at Liverpool earlier this month to effectively stay in the race, but they now have a great chance of putting the pressure on the Gunners before they face a north London derby at Tottenham on Sunday.

Inter Milan are making a mockery of their +350 price to win the title at the start of the season. Inter are top of the league, having won 20 of their 25 games so far. They travel to Lecce side on Saturday, who are 18th with just five wins and 13 defeats this season. Inter are widely expected to extend their lead over Milan and Napoli, who play on Sunday. Napoli travel to Atalanta in the Serie A game of the weekend.

Benfica clinched their place in the Champions League playoffs in astonishing fashion last month with a 4-2 win over Real Madrid and another lively encounter can be expected when the pair meet in this rematch. Elsewhere, there’s a sense of history repeating itself for European champions PSG. They missed out on the top eight and landed a tie with a fellow Ligue 1 side in the first knockout round, just as they did last season. This time around, it's Monaco, who have always beaten PSG 1-0 at home this term, and they’ve won three of their last five home meetings with PSG.

Missing out on retaining their Serie A title on the final day of last season has only awoken the beast that is Inter Milan, and that is terrible news for the rest of the league, including their next opponents Juventus. The summer departure of influential manager Simone Inzaghi could have left the Nerazzurri in trouble but former defender Christian Chivu has expertly picked up the pieces and Inter now hold an eight-point lead at the Serie A summit. Rivals AC Milan do have a game in hand but they face a tough task catching Chivu’s red-hot side, who have smashed in 17 goals and conceded just three while winning their last five matches in all competitions.

Billi breaks down selected matches from this this weekend's FA Cup 4th Round action. An FA Cup fourth-round tie may offer a welcome distraction for Aston Villa and Newcastle who have been going through a tough time. They face off this evening in the tie of the round.

Manchester City overcame a huge hurdle in the Premier League title race on Sunday, clinching a last-gasp winner at Anfield to keep the league title race alive. League-leaders Arsenal hammered Sunderland on Saturday, to open a nine-point lead, so City desperately needed to respond with a win. The Citizens remain six points adrift in the battle for top spot, but they can cut that down to three points against a Fulham side that have suffered a few poor results of late and who Manchester City have beaten in the last their last 19 H2H's. By doing so, they will put the pressure back on Arsenal, who travel to Brentford on Thursday.

Michael Carrick has said that, "do it for Frank” is unlikely to form part of his team talk as United head to West Ham this evening. But perhaps it should- as no one should be embarrassed the club like this kid has, while professing to be a real United supporter.

It is clear that when fan Frank Ilett vowed not to cut his hair until his team had won five games in a row, he did not expect to be approaching 500 days without stepping into a barber’s, or for his look to have grown quite so ridiculous, or to have accumulated more social media followers than some Manchester United first-team players.

After four consecutive wins, though, he is extremely close to his self-inflicted ordeal finally being over. We know he's not a real fan and wants this to carry on forever, however, all real United fans are praying we get it done today, so that he can piss back into obscurity.