There will be no Graham/Harry Potter gags about Chelsea’s big Monday night derby with West Ham in this column. They are getting boring now and repetitive and you can’t magic new ones out of thin air.
Never really been a fan of the young lad or flying cars anyway but I once did a crash course watching all the films to please Mrs T before joining her in the cinema to watch the franchise’s 3D movie only to get zero brownie points by falling asleep.
She asked me some Sirius questions about the plot and I failed to slither in and out of the pickle I created for myself when nodding off. It meant being extremely weasely to her for ages after that tricky episode.
Anyway, Potter, Graham that is, returns to Hogwarts, er sorry Stamford Bridge, hoping to conjure up a special performance from his side which could be strengthened by the return from injury of master magician Jarrod Bowen following his recovery from a fractured foot while Lucas Pacqueta will try to cast a spell on the Blues with his midfield wizardry if he passes a fitness test on a groin strain.
The Hammers have scored in their last seven games on the road while Chelsea are still licking their wounds following the 3-1 defeat at Manchester City last weekend as their fall away from title-race contention continued and they have now won just once in their last seven league matches.
Rather like the England rugby team, they tend to start strongly, having opened the scoring in five of their last six top-flight outings, and you don’t need a philosopher’s stone to figure out that Cole Palmer, at 18/5 with SpreadEx, is the player to continue that trend while Noni Madueke is 11/5 with bet365 to score for the third game in a row.
Bowen is 7/2 with Paddy Power, BoyleSports, bet365, Betway, Sky Bet as well as Betfair to mark his return with a goal and sticking with the Harry Potter theme bets have to be worth a minimum of a quid each.
The draw is 19/4 with Coral, SpreadEx and Betway while both teams to scores is 13/20 with the latter firm, which rates at nine-and-three-quarters out of ten.
• Sunderland can return to Wearside with a point from their trip to Middlesbrough, which will keep them in contention for automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the home side will move into the play-off picture by leapfrogging West Brom into sixth place with a share of the spoils. The draw is 5/2 with Unibet and BetMGM while a 1-1 finish 11/2 with William Hill, bet365, Betfred and others. Both teams to score is 3/4 with Ladbrokes, Coral and Hills.
• Sunday’s Super Bowl between the threepeat-chasing Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles looks likely to be an entertaining, high-scoring affair and over 6.5 touchdowns appeals at 15/8 with BoyleSports while 53.5 total points is 33/20 with 888Sport.
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