Roker Riches: Betting Tips For Trip To The Capital

Wowza! After having a disastrous season for betting last time, our glorious overlord Simon Walsh continues his surprisingly good start with another impressive win last weekend. Simon was one of several of our pundits who put money on a draw between Southampton and Sunderland, and comes out with a £21 pound profit for it on account of putting a full tenner on a stalemate.

Stephen Goldsmith also made some money by betting on a score draw, while our resident Fantasy Football expert player Nick Holden made a £12 pound profit by correctly picking Emanuele Giaccherini to get his first Sunderland goal. I forgot to put Karl Jones' selection into the piece, so he remains unchanged in the standing. Sorry Karl. Anyway, onto this weeks picks:

Simon Walsh

Look everyone, this isn't going to last and I am nearly as stunned as you are. So here's my selections for this week, even though I'm due a loss...

So far this season it seems like Norwich are going to be this seasons Watford for me, aka a continual let down, even though I quite fancy them against Southampton. In fact the whole Premier League seems a little evenly matched this weekend barring Man City v Hull.

With all that in mind, I'm going with Reading, Scunthorpe and Sheffield United all to win in a treble at 10/1.

For our game, I can see it being a little like that game against Southampton and I'm not overly confident. I'm going to go with a cheeky Draw/Sunderland HT/FT Result, although mainly because the rules of this competition insist I have to pick something.

• Reading, Scunthorpe and Sheffield United to win - 10/1 - £5 Stake
• Draw/Sunderland Half Time/Full Time Result - 6/1 - £2 Stake

David Boyle

Much like Simon, I'm not overly confident ahead of Saturday's game and this would normally be exactly the kind of game I would leave well alone when putting a coupon on. However, here we are. Having taken in Tuesday night's mental match in the Capital One Cup, I am however going to put my trust in Connor Wickham who has surely played his way into the side thanks to Sessegnon's lack of form and recent indiscretion, Ji's nightmare of a performance and with Steven Fletcher still on the road to recovery.

Elsewhere I am going to opt for a Championship double with two home sides who should be good enough to bring home the bacon on Saturday afternoon; Blackburn and Brighton.

• Connor Wickham to score anytime - 7/2 - £2 Stake
• Blackburn and Brighton both to win - 4.68 - £2 Stake

Craig Clark

After watching us labour for over 75 minutes against MK Dons following on from the uninspiring performance at Southampton, I have little confidence going into this weekend's game. It would be typical Sunderland to hand a newly promoted side their first win of the season, particularly with us playing away from home. Oh, and it wouldn't it be just typical if Phillips was the man to come off the bench and net the winner...

Elsewhere, West Ham have started solidly and should take advantage of perennially poor travellers, Stoke City - evens for the home side to win looks very generous - while in Argentina, leader's Newell's Old Boys should be too strong for Estudiantes on home turf. Not far behind Newell's are one of the surprise packages so far, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, and home advantage should see them beat Godoy Cruz. In Germany, stuttering Hamburg have the perfect opportunity to pick up 3 points at home to Eintracht Braunschweig who have looked out of their depth since promotion. Over in Italy, I'm going to back Fiorentina to pick up a win in Genoa.

• Kevin Phillips to score anytime, Crystal Palace to win - 9/2 - £2 stake
• West Ham, Newell's, Gimnasia, Hamburg and Fiorentina to win - 25/1 - £1 stake

Stephen Goldsmith

This game keeps telling me it has a draw written all over it. Hat said, we really need 3 points against a side who I think we all know will struggle. I maintained throughout the game on Tuesday that once we scored one we'd win the game, you could sense the team needed a home goal to just relax them. Let's hope that's all it was anyway, I'll go for an away win. *ignores screams of the fixture having a draw written all over it.

A lot of people fancy Spurs and their new look side, I do too. I reckon Arsenal may up for the North London derby though and think they'll squeeze out a side that is still new and without Gareth Bale

• Sunderland to beat Crystal Palace - 19/10 - £6 stake
• Arsenal to beat Spurs 1-0 - 10/1 - £4 stake

Luke Bowley

Jozy Altidore has looked good since his summer arrival, but will be disappointed not to have gotten off the mark in the league. However he did get his first Sunderland goals in the cup in mid-week, and I'd fancy him to take that into the Palace game and get another at Selhurst Park.

Elsewhere in the Championship, one of the leagues wealthiest clubs Reading, take on one of the poorest sides Yeovil. The Somerset outfit will be up for getting a win against one of last season's Premier league teams, and Reading have just come off the back of an atrocious 6-0 defeat at Peterborough in the cup, but I'd still fancy the Royals to have just too much.

• Jozy Altidore to score anytime - 9/4 - £5 stake
• Reading to beat Yeovil - Evens - £5 stake