LATEST BETTING PREDICTIONS FOR AUGUST 3: LIVERPOOL FAVOURED FOR TOP FOUR

This is turning out to be a rather positive summer for Liverpool fans despite the lack of Champions League football to look forward to. Following last season’s seventh place finish it was all doom and gloom on Merseyside; once they finally got rid of the increasingly unpopular Rafael Benitez weeks of speculation followed linking Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano with moves away from the club.

Now, new manager Roy Hodgson has brought in the much sought after Joe Cole, Gerrard and Torres have committed their future to the club, and today news has emerged of a serious bidder to dislodge the much maligned Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Media outlets have been reporting that Chinese tycoon Kenny Huang has made a formal offer to buy the Anfield outfit.
No matter how much managers try to play it down, off-field matters can, and do, have a detrimental effect on team’s fortunes on the pitch. Should the sale be completed in the short time span that the new investor is hoping for then Liverpool could start the season in a rather buoyant mood.
Sportingbet’s odds of 2/1 on a top four finish for The Reds could turn out to be a steal if the players can translate the new found optimism into positive results.
One player who could be returning to Anfield, if you believe the morning papers, is Peter Crouch. The England striker could become a victim of Harry Redknapp’s attempts to reshuffle his strike force for the forthcoming campaign. Liverpool, West Ham and Fulham are all being touted as possible destinations for the player with Craig Bellamy being linked with a move to White Hart Lane. One player who won’t be going anywhere is Ashley Cole after manager Carlo Ancelotti quashed all rumours linking him with a move to Real Madrid.
Finally, in tennis news, Andy Murray still hasn’t won a tournament this year after he was beaten by Sam Querrey in the final of the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles. Murray squandered a match point before going on to lose the second set in a tiebreak and then ultimately the match.
Despite never looking completely at ease throughout the tournament the Scot’s odds for US Open success next month remain unaltered. You can back him at 5/1, with Sportingbet, to get his first Grand Slam of his career at Flushing Meadows this September.