Sky Bet

Manchester United out to 9/1 in Europa League betting

Manchester United have shifted out from 100/30 to 9/1 to win the Europa League after suffering a 3-2 defeat to Athletic Bilbao at Old Trafford.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s men are now 3/1 to make the quarter-finals of Europe’s second-tier tournament as they face the task of overturning the deficit at the San Mames next Thursday.

Manchester City also suffered a surprise defeat in their first leg of their final 16 tie, losing 1-0 at Sporting Lisbon, but remain odds-on to make the final eight with the Portuguese outfit 6/4 to progress.

The Premier League leaders remain favourites in the Europa League outright betting but have drifted slightly from 5/2 to 11/4, ahead of Atletico Madrid and Valencia (both 5/1) and Athletic Bilbao (11/2).

Sky Bet’s Danny Quick said: “It’s been a terrible night for the Manchester clubs with United facing both a deficit and the added issue of conceding so many away goals, but things would have looked a lot more bleak had it not been for Wayne Rooney’s late penalty.

“The English clubs losing (were) fairly favourable results in terms of our books, but a few shrewd punters managed get on the 36/1 double for both Manchester clubs to suffer defeats.”

Manager betting update: Benitez favourite to take charge at Chelsea for 2012/13 campaign

Rafa Benitez is the 5/4 favourite in Sky Bet’s Premier League manager betting market to be in charge of Chelsea for the first day of the 2012/13 season.

After a poor run of form, the Blues parted company with Andre Villas-Boas on Sunday and replaced him with assistant first-team coach Roberto Di Matteo until the end of the current campaign.

Former Liverpool boss Benitez is the early favourite to return to the Premier League in August, but Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is 4/1 to return to Stamford Bridge.

Interim boss Di Matteo is 5/1 to get the post on a regular basis, while Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola is 8/1 to move to west London.

Sky Bet PR Director Dale Tempest said: “Benitez is the early favourite, but there is a sense of unfinished business with Mourinho.

“He looks like he will win the Primera Liga with Real Madrid and he would surely be tempted to return to the club where he won nearly everything – apart from the Champions League.”

He added: “The fans would surely want him back as Chelsea enjoyed their most successful period when he was at the helm.”

Sky Bet have pushed Kauto Star out from 3/1 to 4/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup after the 12-year-old suffered a fall in training.

The Paul Nicholls trained two-time winner of the festival’s showpiece race is now rated 50/50 following a schooling fall under jockey Ruby Walsh, which could halt a run of resurgence which saw him claim a fifth King George VI Chase victory after holding off young pretender Long Run.

Following the news, Long Run has been trimmed to 6/4 with Burton Port in to 13/2 along with Grand Crus, while Midnight Chase and Synchronised follow at 10s.

Sky Bet’s Dale Tempest said: “It’s a massive blow for racing as there’s not many horses that grab the public’s attention like Kauto and he’s been back to his best of late.

“The news came out of Paul Nicholls’ yard and the word is that he hasn’t responded to physio and that he’s rated at 50/50.

“Now I’d say for a horse that 12-years-old and rated 50/50 then you certainly wouldn’t want to be having a bet, so Long Run is now the 6/4 favourite with Kauto out to 4/1.”

Sky Bet have installed Lee Clark as their new favourite to be the next Leeds manager following the news that he has parted company with Huddersfield.

The 39-year-old has been cut from 25/1 to 4/6 for the vacant post at Elland Road, while he is also in from 25/1 to 5/1 third favourite in the next Wolves manager betting, which is currently headed by Alan Curbishley at 1/4.

Clark’s exit comes on the back on Tuesday night’s 1-0 home defeat to promotion rivals Sheffield United, which saw them slip four points adrift of automatic promotion and drift from 8/1 to 11/1 to win League One.

Neil Warnock (8/1) is the early favourite in Sky Bet’s next Huddersfield manager odds ahead of academy manager Mark Lillis, who will take temporary charge, at 9/1 while Sky Bet’s Dale Tempest is 100/1 to return to his former club as manager.

Tempest said: “I can tell you it certainly won’t be me but it is a great club and a fantastic opportunity for whoever gets the job.

“Mark Lillis and I played together in the ‘80s so I’m delighted that he has got the opportunity, even on an interim basis, to show the board what he can do.

“With regards to Lee Clark, he looks a false favourite for the Leeds post as he leaves Huddersfield after a poor run of results, despite being given significant transfers funds to work with.”

Amir Khan is 1/4 favourite with online betting company Sky Bet to avenge his defeat to Lamont Peterson in Las Vegas on May 19.

Peterson won the WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles from the Bolton fighter in a controversial points decision in December in Washington, with Khan twice deducted a point by the referee.

Khan appealed against the outcome and the WBA confirmed in January that they wanted their new champion to defend the belt against the Brit. After initially rejecting the WBA ruling with a written appeal, Peterson has now agreed to the bout.

The American is 3/1 in Sky Bet’s boxing betting to record another victory over Khan and 6/1 to win on points, but Sky Bet boxing trader Simon McMinn feels Khan will not make the same mistakes again.

He said: “Khan probably got a bit over-confident in the first fight once he realised Peterson didn’t possess the power to knock him out.

“But Khan’s coach Freddie Roach is one of the best in the sport and won’t let him make the same mistakes twice.”

He added: “Khan is the better fighter in every area and it would be a surprise if he does not avenge the defeat.”

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The 2012 Olympics opening ceremony is now just 400 days away and Sky Bet has marked the occasion by launching our Team GB markets.

We are offering 400/1 that Team GB claim a clean sweep of gold, silver and bronze in the women’s 400 metres which features Christine Ohuruogu, one of our gold medal heroes from the Beijing games in 2008. She is 14/1 to repeat her success.

Meanwhile another golden girl of British athletics, Jessica Ennis, is 11/10 to win Heptathlon gold.

In other 2012 Olympics markets released today, Rebecca Adlington, who won two gold medals in Beijing, leads the field to strike gold for Team GB in London. She is 4/7 to win the 400 metres freestyle.

Other Brits strongly fancied to repeat their Beijing glory are cyclist Victoria Pendleton, who is a 6/4 chance to win the women’s individual sprint and Sir Chris Hoy who is 9/4 to be part of a winning men’s sprint team and the same price to retain his men’s individual sprint title. Mark Cavendish is 5/2 to win the men’s road race.

The Great Britain football are an 8/1 chance to win gold, while Andy Murray is 11/2 to win the men’s singles title behind 7/4 favourite Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer 5/2.

Back in the Olympic Stadium we offer 11/4 for Phillips Idowu to win the triple jump and 10/1 for Jenny Meadows to win 800 metres gold.

Sky Bet’s Olympics trader Craig Ibbotson said: “As spectators find out which tickets they have been allocated we are offering them a chance to get an early bet on Team GB.

“Olympics fever is starting right now and we are looking forward to offering a great betting service for what is certain to be the biggest sporting event ever held in this country.”

Sky Bet’s opening-day Barclays Premier League betting odds offer 6/1 for all newly-promoted sides Swansea, QPR and Norwich to lose after they were handed starts against Manchester City, Bolton and Wigan respectively.

Play-off winners Swansea are 9/1 to begin life in the top flight with victory as they face a tough trip to the City of Manchester Stadium, Championship winners QPR are 11/8 to win when they host Bolton and Norwich travel to Wigan as 5/2 outsiders.

The online bookmaker make the Swans 7/2 favourites to end the first weekend bottom with City 11/4 to be top, while the online bookmaker’s Premier League Betting Specials market also offers 8/1 for the ‘big five’ to all win as Liverpool host Sunderland, City meet Swansea, Arsenal travel to Newcastle, Chelsea make the trip and Stoke and Manchester United visit West Brom.

Chelsea are 4/6 to add to their remarkable nine-year run of winning their opening day fixtures as they travel to Stoke (9/2), while the first round of fixtures has thrown up a clash between newly-appointment managers and Martin Jol’s Fulham are 5/4 to beat Aston Villa (7/4), who have officially appointed Alex McLeish as their new manager.

Manchester United will start the season as 7/4 favourites to retain the title with Chelsea (5/2) and Manchester City (7/2) priced up as their closest rivals, while Swansea are 4/7 favourites for relegation followed by Norwich (8/13) and QPR (6/4). (more…)

It’s the biggest club match of the season and leading online bookmaker Sky Bet has unveiled a suitably massive offer for Saturday’s Champions League final.  If Lionel Messi or Wayne Rooney scores in regulation time, Sky Bet will refund in cash all losing goalscorer and correct score bets!

A goal from either side’s star forward in the Wembley showpiece will see Sky Bet refund losing bets on over a dozen goalscorer markets, including first goal scorer, correct score and scorecasts.

Losing stakes will be returned in CASH and the money-back offer applies to both new and existing customers.

Sky Bet’s PR manager, Helen Jacob, said: “We wanted to do a huge offer to celebrate the dream final to the Champions League and it doesn’t get much bigger than this.  It’s a very short price that Messi or Rooney score in 90 minutes on Saturday so if you’re having a bet, you’d be mad not to take advantage of the offer.”

Reigning Six Nations champions France are proving friendless in the betting on the eve of the tournament’s opening match.

Sky Bet are a top price 13/5 about the French defending the title, and it is 15/8 favourites England and Wales (5/1) who are coming in for most support in the run-up to the annual championship.

Despite losing their last three trips to Cardiff, England have also been well backed to win their opener at the Millennium Stadium and have been cut to 4/7 (from 4/6) on the match result market. Patriotic punting has also seen the handicap line moved from -2 England to -3.

This year’s championship promises to be the most open in years and one of the most popular pre-tournament bets has been for no team to win the Grand Slam. Sky Bet have cut the odds of no nation winning all five of their matches to 4/7 from 4/6.

Sky Bet’s rugby union compiler Simon McMinn said: “On their day, France can beat any side but with rumours of disharmony in the camp and tough trips to Ireland and England, a repeat of last year’s Grand Slam looks highly unlikely. We are happy to take them on at a top price of 13/5.”

Should England prevail on Friday in front of a hostile Cardiff crowd, they will be strongly fancied to win the Championship, ahead of home matches against Italy, France and Scotland. Sky Bet make Martin Johnson’s men 5/1 to achieve the Grand Slam, 13/8 to get four wins and 6/4 only to suffer two defeats. (more…)