Another weekend is here. Less selections this weekend and getting these out a bit earlier as well as not able to do much this evening and also one includes tonight’s match in League One. There is no corner bet at the moment as I am waiting for the prices t complete them. If I find anything will add it on.

El Classico in Spain this weekend and sure to be a good watch. Barcelona will be desperate to beat Real Madrid and go someway to avenging the 4-1 defeat they suffered last season at the Bernebau. Real have a serious injury crisis and will struggle to get a decent team out. All the Barcelona players were rested midweek and will be fresh and are on fire. Henry getting hatrick last weekend would have done him the world of good and with Eto’o and Messi in their form it’s frightening. Torres and Heinze are injured and Marcelo is suspended so the left back is a huge problem, especially as they will be up against Messi and Alves.

Brighton v MK Dons (English League One: Fri 7:45pm Local Time)

The bottom line here is Brighton have taken 10 points from a possible 27 at home and the Dons have the best away record in the league with 19 points from a possible 27. Interestingly Brighton’s 2 home wins have come against Leicester and Millwall who are the only teams above the Dons in the league. Still 2 wins for them and 3 losses doesn’t inspire confidence and if we take the 3 losses for them at home and add them to the Dons 6 wins away we have an evens chance of a MK win and that sounds about right.

++ Win Market – MK Dons @ 2.4 on Coral (1pt) – 2.375 generally

Lyon v Marseille (France Ligue 1: Sun 9pm Local Time)

A win for Marseille here and they will join Lyon on level points and there really can’t be a better time to play them. Lyon have a few injuries and have only won 2 of the last 7 games in all competitions including home defeats by Bayern in the Champions League and Metz in the cup.  They have lost 2 and draw 1 of the last 3 league matches and scored just one goal. Their league home record is very solid though as they are unbeaten winning 6/8. However, Marseille are unbeaten away this season in the league and have only lost twice in their 17 matches and both times at home. I could see this game being a draw and taking Marseille on the Asian Handicap (+0.5) looks a very good bet as it’s the same as double chance. Something has to give and hopefully it could be Lyon.

++ Asian Handicap – Marseilles (+0.5) @ 1.95 on Bet365 (1pt)

Getafe v Real Mallorca (Spain: Sun 5pm local time)

I think Mallorca could be in real trouble this season. They lie in 16^th place and next week start going through the spinner rinse playing that crazy big 4 stretch of games. To be so low down the table and without playing these matches shows what they are like. They have won just once in the last 9 matches and have lost 5 of their 7 away games this season. Looking at Getafe’s form it doesn’t look good with 2 draws and 1 win all to show in the past 5 matches but look again and the games were against Villarreal, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia (when they were reduced to 10 men fairly early). I think nearly every team in the league would be happy with 5 points from that run of games. Their home record doesn’t look great with only 2 wins but the 3 defeats were against Sevilla, Valencia and Atletico and Mallorca do not fit into that group.

++ Win Market – Getafe @ 1.91 on Boyles/Paddy Power/Coral (1pt)

Barcelona v Real Madrid (Spain: Sat 10pm local time)

I mentioned this at the start of the message and it is hard to see past Barcelona in this. Real Madrid really are in a bad way and not sure if sacking Schuster was the solution. Injuries to Pepe, Schneider, Heinze, Diarra and Van Nistelrooy have severely weakened them. Can they raise themselves for this game? I don’t think so and if you look at the players available they really have no depth. I could go through them stating the ones I am not impressed with but don’t see the point. I can see them going behind early, someone like Guti or Ramos getting sent off and then really being humiliated. Bet365 offer 80/1 on 5-0 and 5-1 and I will have a nibble at that. Barcelona destroyed Sevilla 3-0, then Valencia 4-0 and as Sevilla beat Madrid 4-3 last weekend in the Bernebau you have to ask what will happen. CampNou will be packed solid and they are in confident mood and rightly so. Barça are 6/1 with Skybet to score 4 or more but if we go back the last 15 ‘El Classico’ games at Camp Nou Barcelona have scored 3 or more 6 times. That’s should be odds of 2.5 and added to the fact they scoring goals for fun and have managed 26 in 7 home games so far this season the 3.75 on them to score 3 or more looks great value.

++ To Score 3+ Goals – Barcelona @ 3.75 on Skybet (1pt)

4 points staked on the weekend.

Good luck in whatever bets you do.

Not good. We lost one game to a postponement, the corner bet went down 6-3 so a deficit of 3 and not the 1.5 we bet on. Finally Fulham couldn’t beat ManCity and Rennes drew 1-1. The Rennes draw was an extra pain as Lyon lost so if they had won that game they would have been 2 points off the top.

Barcelona outclassed Valencia 4-0 and were good value for it even without Eto’o who has played a huge part this season. Real Madrid did look a bit unlucky in losing to Sevilla but they they did and with Robben out next week they could go there with a very poor team. Barcelona were humiliated last season at the Bernebau when they had to give Madrid a guard of honour before the game and then went on to lose. They will be desperate to score quite a few and I don’t think they’ll take their foot off the pedal.

I looked back at last seasons results and was in a negative position at Christmas so that back end of the season was profitable and think it will be the same this time round.

67 Bets (62.5 points staked) :: 23 won – 36 lost – 6 void – 1 half void :: 62.5 points