Sports Betting

A few tasty tempters for the next few months:

Everton to finish 5th or higher - 5/1 - Everton have finished 5th in the last two seasons and will benefit from the return of Yakubu and Arteta from injury as well as Jo on loan from Man City. City themselves are favourites beyond the top 4 and the likes of Spurs and Villa will be pressing hard but Everton have the experience and structure to pull this off.

Wayne Rooney to finish as league top scorer - 12/1 - Torres and Drogba lead the betting here but both have suffered with injuries and Drogba is likely to miss time with the African Nations Cup. Rooney will have more responsibility this year to score goals and may be a more central presence with the loss of Tevez and Ronaldo. He will play often, is not injury prone (England duty aside) and plays in a team that create chances. Berbatov at 18's and Van Persie at 20's are decent bets here too.

Thor Hushovd to win the 2010 Tour Green Jersey - 6/1 - Cavendish somehow is 1/2 for the points jersey but Hushovd showed his ability to win the numerous points available in the non-flat stages. Cav can't compete in the mountains and may also struggle to match the 6 stage wins he had this year. Again it should be close and there are others that could challenge but the Norwegian's odds are too long to turn down.

Aaron Peirsol to win the World 200m Backstroke Gold - 8/13 - Because he will.

Eric Buchman to win the WSOP Main Event - 4/1 - Meh...why not?

The St. Louis Cards to win the NL Pennant - 7/1 - They may be the team with the least question marks and the most upside. They can hit, pitch and field and, as long as they can make the playoffs (which is no guarantee thanks to the resurgent Cubs) then they have quality in the right places to close out a 5/7 game series (Holliday, Pujols, Carpenter, Wainwright, Pineiro, Franklin).

The Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl - 14/1 - Ok, I'm buying. They're strong on both offensive and defensive lines. They've got some impact rookies. They've got Andy Reid. Fine, forget the last one but this bet has value when you consider Dallas are 16/1 and Indy are 12/1. Value people!