QPR has definitely played better since Redknapp took over the team in late 2012–of course that’s not saying much given their pitiful performance in the early going. The Rangers remain at the bottom of the English Premier League table with 17 points, four behind 19th place Wigan Athletic. Of greater concern is the fact that they are 7 points back of 17th place Aston Villa and that’s their target as they try to stay up at the highest level of English football.

Redknapp explains the Dubai trip, which has become increasingly common for English Premier League teams at this stage of the season:

“Our training ground at Harlington is not the best, to say the least. When it rains, the pitch floods. When it snows, we can’t get on it. We’ve got no under soil heating. So this is an opportunity to get out and train on some good surfaces. This will provide a good break. We need to get away to train on a decent surface for a few days. I think there are six teams going to Dubai this week, everyone is getting away to do a bit of training.”

West Ham United is also in Dubai this week and manager Sam Allardyce sounded as if he were auditioning for a job with the country’s tourism board:

“The climate will be perfect and the training facilities will be superb. We’ll be carrying on with the training, but let them relax too and after they’ve done their training allow them to enjoy the warm weather, the sunshine and the beauty of Dubai.”

“Everything that goes with Dubai is fantastic, it’s one of the best resorts in the world today and when you can go to release the pressures they’re under on a day-to-day basis then hopefully that will stand us in good stead for the last part of the season. It worked last year, we had a fantastic finish to the season and I still think the trip that we had at this time last year was a big benefit in the end for getting us promoted into the Premier League.”

QPR won’t have an easy time of it upon their return to English Premier League action–they face Manchester United at Loftus Road on February 23. They do get a scheduling break–Man U will be in the middle of their Champions League series with Real Madrid but the betting lines at Bet365 suggest that may not be enough. Man U is a -200 road favorite with the home side priced at +550.

In league play, Manchester United is certainly better than Real this year having all but clinched the Premiership. European Cup play is a different animal entirely, of course, but the comfortable lead back home does allow Man U to give these games greater priority or at the very least the opportunity to go all out without having to worry about the English Premier League race. While Man U would certainly want to win this game they’ve not won at Santiago Bernabeu in their last four trips. That’s nothing to be embarrassed of since Real’s home field is one of the toughest venues in all of soccer. In fact, you have to go back to the beginning of last season to find a Real Madrid loss at home to a team other than Barcelona.

Compounding matters for the visitor is that the competitive relationship between Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex has been as one sided as the Roadrunner vs. the Coyote from the classic Warner Brothers cartoons. ‘The Special One’ has been beating up on Sir Alex for years–most notably while at Chelsea his team had a record of 5 wins 4 draws and only 1 loss against Manchester United. That makes this game a real uphill struggle for Man U to win but knowing the value of ‘away goals’ they’ll be interested to just be competitive. We look for Real Madrid to win the match but expect a lot of offensive fireworks as both teams are better on the attack than on defense. Look for both teams to score in a game that sails ‘Over’ the total.

Bet Real Madrid/Manchester United OV 2.5 -175
Bet Both Teams To Score -150

The current form of these teams is drastically different, however, and particularly as it relates to their home/away split. Liverpool has finally been playing up to their potential of late–they’ve had trouble holding onto leads playing on the road and have settled for 1 point when they had a good chance to take all three. At home, however, they’ve been red hot. They’ve now won five of their last six contests on their home pitch at Anfield. Even more impressively, they’ve kept a clean sheet in all five of the victories. Even factoring in a discordant 3-1 home loss to Aston Villa they’ve outscored their last six home opponents by a combined margin of 17-3.

West Brom, on the other hand, has been downright awful on the road. Year to date they’ve got 3 wins, 2 draws and 7 losses in Premiership play and their most recent form has been even worse–in fact, it’s been downright putrid. West Brom has lost five of their last six road games with the only victory being a narrow 2-1 verdict at lowly Queens Park Rangers. Sure, they’ve had games against Manchester United and Arsenal in that stretch but more problematic are losses to bottom feeders like Reading. They’ve been relatively decent on the attack, but the problem is that they’re giving up too many goals and playing poorly in the midfield.

So we’ll bet this one accordingly. We’ll bet Liverpool to win and a couple of other goal scoring bets that are mindful of West Brom’s recent ability to put the ball in the net even in losing causes. Liverpool on the goal line handicap is also worth a look as they should make mincemeat out of a lax West Brom backline.

Bet Liverpool -275 over West Brom
Bet Liverpool/West Brom Over 2.5 Goals -167
Bet Both Teams To Score -120

They may sound like a lot of money but keep in mind that he *is* the best soccer player in the world. That salary would put him somewhere between the #25 and #30 highest paid player in the NBA–for example, Chicago Bulls’ forward Carlos Boozer makes more than Lionel Messi. Messi would barely crack the top 50 Major League Baseball salaries though he would be among the top NFL players. The important thing to keep in mind–once again–is that we’re talking about a guy who is (almost) unanimously recognized as the best player on the planet. Obviously there’s other market considerations than pure talent (which is why Brooklyn Nets shooting guard Joe Johnson is the 4th highest paid player in the NBA, making more than LeBron James) but Messi’s compensation sure seems low for a player of his skill level.

And how good is Messi? Since his debut with the top flight team at age 16 he’s become Barcelona’s career goal scoring leader while winning four Balloon D’Or (FIFA Player of the Year) awards. And his accomplishments aren’t just personal performance awards– since joining the team Barcelona has won a whopping 19 trophies in the Spanish La Liga(five), Champions League (three), Copa del Rey (two), FIFA Club World Cup (two), Spanish Super Cup (five) and European Super Cup (two).

Messi released this statement about the deal:

“I’m very happy at Barcelona, I have always said so. It’s a great day. I don’t know how I will be when I reach 31. I just go forward day by day and try to enjoy playing football here.”

As far as European club play goes Messi has said that he wants to end his career at Camp Nou, though he wants to make his last stop in his native Argentina:

“I have said before that as far as Europe goes I would like to end my career at Barcelona. I don’t think about playing for any other team on the continent. That said, I don’t rule out ending my playing career in Argentina.”

Notable in Messi’s signing is that his current deal doesn’t expire until 2016, meaning he could have greatly enhanced his market value by at least ‘flirting’ with the ‘free agent market’. Messi and Barcelona can now concentrate on the Champions League tournament–they’re +200 favorites to win.

Arsenal’s away form has been one of the major problems with the team this season. The good news is that they only have three away losses this year which ranks them among the fewest road losses in the league. The bad news is that they’ve only got four away wins which is decidedly mediocre. In their last six road games they have 2 wins, 1 loss and 3 draws–the loss was at Chelsea but the wins aren’t overly impressive, coming against bottom feeders Reading and Wigan.

Sunderland has underachieved at home this year with a record of 4 wins, 4 losses and 4 draws. They’ve not been able to get wins against mid tier teams and have settled for draws while they’ve lost against the elite level teams. That begs the question of which category Arsenal belongs in–it’s hard to put them among the English Premier League elite so they’re more realistically a mid level team at this point. They play reasonably good defense on the road, but they’ve had trouble scoring goals.

For that reason we’ll look toward the draw–no interest in Sunderland +350 to win but by the same token can’t go with a mediocre traveling Arsenal team as a chalk. The draw is the play at +250. We’ll also go with the ‘Both Teams To Score’ prop at -138. Alternately, you could kill both birds with one stone and back the 1-1 exact score at +500.

BET DRAW +250
BET BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE -138
BET 1-1 EXACT SCORE +500

Inverness manager Terry Butcher thinks that the competitive pressure of Celtic’s Champions League challenge–starting with their round of 16 matchup with Juventus–can only help his team:

“It’s always the question: ‘Is it a good time to play Celtic or a bad time?’

“I hope they’ve got one eye on Europe. Perhaps they may be a little bit focussed on the Juventus game, I certainly hope so. They’ve got good quality and have players who will be desperate to get into the side that plays in the Juventus match. Whatever team Neil selects, they’ll be trying like mad to hold that position down for the European match.”

Inverness is currently on a three game losing streak heading in to the big matchup against Celtic. Still, manager Butcher is hopeful:

“We’ve beaten them at their place which was a fantastic result and performance. However, they have also beaten us comprehensively in the first game.

“It was not great losing 4-2 and being 4-0 down at home in front of all the TV cameras. The last few visits they’ve done pretty well at the Caledonia Stadium. Since we beat them at home a few years ago, they have smashed us after that. I think they’ll be looking for revenge after we beat them down there. The fact we’re second in the table also comes into play as they will want to open up the gap even more.”

The betting marketplace isn’t quite as confident in Inverness’ prospects as their manager. Bet 365 has Celtic installed as a -188 betting favorite. Takeback on Inverness is +450 with a draw priced at +333. Ironically, those prices are similar to Celtic’s prices against Juventus–the Italy Serie A powerhouse is installed as a -150 betting favorite in their Champions League tilt. Celtic is a +350 underdog with a regulation draw priced at +250.

That is about to change and the league feels that the timing is now just perfect. The Premiership has just finalized a new domestic TV contract along with rights in a number of overseas markets that will bring in a whopping $7.8 billion (US). Hoping to use that windfall to shore up the long term financial solvency of the league the rush is on to implement a salary cap for the first time in history. For any proposal to be ratified it must be approved by 14 of 20 league teams and to date there’s been considerable division on the specific guidelines of a financial framework. In the past few days talks have progressed nicely to the point that a deal is being reported as ‘imminent’ by the UK and International media.

Whatever the end product, the Premier League rules will be modeled on financial responsibility guidelines implemented by UEFA–the European soccer oversight body. UEFA General-Secretary Gianni Infantino was asked about the Premiership efforts to rein in spending earlier this week and gave a positive, if somewhat terse, response:

“It’s very positive. We can only encourage the Premier League.”

Even the deep pocketed teams atop the English Premier League have their differences. Arsenal and Manchester United have mandated full adoption of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. Chelsea, on the other hand, wants teams to have more freedom to spend on players than their counterparts. Despite their reticense at being told what to do with their money–provided by Russian gazillonaire Roman Abramovich–Chelsea is expected to back a compromise plan that could be approved as soon as today. With the top of the Premier League power structure already on board the other teams down the line are expected to quickly come to an agreement.

The annual Super Bowl is the largest single betting event in the United States and one of the biggest in the world–it’s second only to the Champions League final in worldwide betting handle. Long ago bookmakers decided it was good business to go beyond the basic ‘side and total’ betting options and offer a myriad of proposition bets covering every aspect of the game including the halftime show, pregame show and TV ratings.

Sports books are offering proposition bets on the Super Bowl MVP–San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick is a +150 favorite with his Ravens’ counterpart Joe Flacco a second choice at +275–and even who the eventual MVP will thank first in his postgame interview (God or any other religious figure is a +175 favorite). Some prop bets are statistically based and involve the number of first downs, touchdowns, yards, sacks, tackles and any other performance metric imaginable. Additionally, you can bet on things like the first player to score a touchdown–overall or for each team.

In the past sports books have posted lines on the length of the national anthem, the TV rating of the game, the half time performances (which is unlikely to happen this year since featured performer Beyonce has already released her set list) and even how many times team owners and other celebrities will be shown on the television broadcast. Some of these prop bets sound silly–and some definitely are–but that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to handicap and find good betting value on even the most superficially absurd wager.

These are just a small sample of the wide variety of Super Bowl gambling options that will be available. Look for even more props to be released in the days heading up to the big game.

Federer said he enjoyed the challenge presented by Tsonga:

“I thought he played very aggressive. I love those four-set or five-set thrillers and I was part of one tonight.”

Tsonga was somewhat clueless as to why he’s had difficulty beating top level players:

“To be honest, I have no idea. You know, if you have some advice for me, I will take it because I don’t know. I don’t know what is the difference.”

He did say that he’s benefited from his new coach, Roger Rasheed:

“He’s giving me an extra motivation. It’s great because he’s always positive. He wants maybe more than me to win. He’s incredible.”

Federer is a four time Australian Open champion and a 17 time Grand Slam winner. Despite this impressive resume Federer is only the third favorite betting choice to win the entire tournament. Novak Djokovic is the -120 favorite to win the Australian Open followed by Andy Murray at +250. David Ferrer is the longshot among the four remaining men at +2500.

In the semifinal rounds, Djokovic is a whopping -1200 favorite over David Ferrer. Takeback on Ferrer is +700. The Murray vs. Federer matchup is expected to be much closer. Murray is a -175 favorite while Federer is a +138 underdog. On the women’s side Victoria Azerenka is a +110 favorite to defend her Australian Open title with Maria Sharapova not far behind at +120. Chinese phenom Ni Li is the third betting choice at +1000 with American teenager Sloane Stephens–fresh off of her upset win over Serena Williams–is the longshot at +1400. The women’s semifinals will take place late Wednesday with the men’s finals taking place on Thursday and Friday. The Australian Open women’s final will take place on Saturday and the men’s final will take place on Sunday.

Most impressive was Stephens composure throughout the match and Serena’s meltdown. She sounded nonplussed in her post match comments:

“I was stretching, and I was like, ‘I’m in the semis of a Grand Slam.’ I was like, ‘Whoa. It wasn’t as hard as I thought.’ But it’s pretty cool. To be in the semis of a Grand Slam is definitely I say a good accomplishment. A lot of hard work.”

The #29 ranked Stephens said she gave herself a ‘pep talk’:

“When I got up, I was like, ‘Look, Dude, like, you can do this.’ Like, ‘Go out and play and do your best.”

She reaffirmed her commitment to win after losing the first set:

“I was like, ‘Hmm, this is not the way you want it to happen. But you just fight and just get every ball back, run every ball down, and just get a lot of balls in play, I think you’ll be OK.”

“From then on I got aggressive, started coming to the net more, and just got a lot more comfortable.”

After the match she came up with a great one-liner after admitting she once had a Serena Williams poster on her wall:

“This is so crazy. Oh my goodness. I think I’ll put a poster of myself (up) now.”

While Stephens celebrated Serena continued to sell her back injury:

“I’m almost relieved that it’s over because there’s only so much I felt I could do. It’s been a little difficult. I’ve been thrown a lot of (curve) balls these two weeks.”

Stephens faces an uphill battle if she wants to win the entire tournament. She faces defending champion Victoria Azerenka in the semifinals. Bet 365 has Azerenka installed as a -800 favorite with takeback on Stephens at +500.