Tottenham v Newcastle
Premier League – 12.30pm
Sky Sports
What a massive day of sport Saturday’s going to be, and so for my best bets of the day preview, I’m going to keep things shorter to squeeze in more events. I will kick things off in the EPL with Tottenham v Newcastle. Injuries are a cruel thing for managers and us punters alike. Tottenham have been hit hard recently with a fairly hefty injury list, including Harry Kane and Dele Ali.
After crashing out of both the EFL cup and the FA Cup in the space of a week, they scraped a late come-from-behind win at home against Watford back in the EPL in midweek. Even with two defeats in their last five and a depleted lineup, Spurs are 2/5 odds to win this with the leading bookies.
What makes this clash fascinating is that Newcastle will be arriving at Wembley in high spirits having caused one of the shocks of the season. The Magpies beat Manchester City on Tuesday night after being behind as early as the first minute. Will the Magpies be able to defy their 13/2 underdog status with leading bookmakers to be a thorn in the side of Tottenham’s top four ambitions?
Scotland v Italy
Six Nations Rugby – 2.15 pm
BBC
Scotland will be more than delighted to have received this opening fixture for the 2019 Six Nations. It is actually the reverse of the fixture from the last round of action at the 2018 edition of the tournament. Last year’s Six Nations clash between Italy and Scotland produced a thriller. Italy looked as if they were on their way to the first victory of their campaign, holding a two point advantage with less than 5 mins on the clock. But it was Scotland’s Greig Laidlaw who broke the hearts of the Italians in Rome. He fired his one and only penalty kick of the entire match through the middle of the posts in the 79th minute.
There have actually been some decent scraps between these two sides recently, but Scotland has won their last two games against Italy at Murrayfield by large margins of at least 20 points. While results don’t seem to go to Italy’s way, there were some improved performances from them last season. The bookmakers have a very generous +25 handicap at even money on them. It’s the same price as Scotland doing enough to cover a victory by that margin. The Scots are on a six match winning streak against the Italians.
Ireland v England
Six Nations Rugby – 4.45
ITV
The main event. What a mouthwatering clash we have in Dublin on Saturday evening in the Six Nations. Will this turn out to be an early title decider? These are the leading two of the six competing teams to go and get their hands on the title. It is Ireland who is defending the title after winning all of their fixtures in 2018 to claim the Grand Slam. They did that in dramatic fashion as well, completing the full house in a big away game at Twickenham against England in their last match.
Will England be able to produce something very special on the road and overcome some poor form that they have in Dublin? In the last decade, England have lost four of their last six visits to Ireland. This is the toughest away game that they could have received to open with. This should be an immense test of character in what should prove to be another epic battle between the two. The bookmakers are offering a -9/+9 handicap in favour of Ireland at even money.
Warrington v Leeds
Super League Rugby – 5.00 pm
Sky Sports
The new season of the Super League is upon us and this is a huge clash between Warrington and Leeds. Leeds went into last season’s campaign as the reigning champions but their season fell apart. Badly. The Rhinos at one point suffered 10 straight defeats. With a failure to make it to the Super 8s, they have had to go through a bit of a reboot. Will they be able to make a strong statement in their opening fixture and take down one of the other leading contenders for this season’s grand final title? Leeds are 15/8 underdogs with leading bookmakers to pull off the away win.
Warrington are the joint 4/1 favourites alongside St Helens to be crowned outright champions this year. That was after their surprise run to last season’s showcase match, where they lost against Wigan. But it was in their semi-final match against favourites St Helens that we saw the best of the Wolves. On home soil for their opener, they go as 4/7 favourites. There are new rules in place the season to make the Super League more dynamic and fast paced. I’m hoping to see a prime example of those advancements in this heavyweight clash.
Peter Wright v Adrian Lewis
Darts masters – 10.15 pm
ITV
The Darts Masters 2019 certainly is not disappointing, as there are some cracking first round matches. This is the real highlight of the first round though as far as I’m concerned. Two-time world champion Adrian Lewis has a pretty decent track record at the Masters from his five previous visits. He was a losing finalist in 2013 and since then he’s at least made the quarter-finals in three of his other appearances, two of the last three have been semi-final exits.
The bookmakers are expecting a tight battle in this one it would seem as underdog Lewis is 11/10 odds for the win. ‘Snakebite’ Peter Wright has not been in the greatest of form over the last four months or so. He has been a fairly consistent performer at the Masters though having reached the quarter-finals in each of the last four years but never having gone any further. It’s a late-night start in Milton Keynes for this particular battle. Will Wright be able to defend his position as 8/11 odds on favourite? Lewis actually leads the head-to-head 18-13 over Peter Wright.
