A poor month so far for Fab Four fans with not a sniff of even a treble to ease the misery while we wait on the Foursome to give us our rightful loot once more. This might be a useful time to remind folks that the unit stake is given as £1.00 only to simplify calculating returns.
Punters can adjust the stakes up or down according to their means. The minimum TOTAL bet allowed on most coupons is normally 50p. So unit stakes of 10p would be permitted when betting on four trebles and a fourfold.
The Fab Four is drawn from the top dozen or so evens-and-above picks of the week. Many weeks we can get up to 70% accuracy overall from all the selections. The trick is deciding which are the most likely four from the pack to bring home the bacon.
Nothing more frustrating to find that we have seven or eight correct forecasts overall but only one or two of the winners appear in our foursome. But for the smarter single-bet punters these are the sort of percentages that keep them in profit throughout the year.
This week's Fab Four
Premiership - Leeds United v NEWCASTLE 7/5
Third place Newcastle, remain unbeaten this year and have taken an impressive few scalps including Spurs home and away as well as Man City and Liverpool. Held leaders Arsenal to a 1-1 draw last week.
Poor Leeds New Year has seen their side demoralised by the 'For Sale' sign being slapped on everyone from the tea lady up. Had already lost 6 games at home before the clear-out and last weeks 1-0 defeat of West Ham was their first win since beating Birmingham on Ne'erday.
Lying in 13th place with no chance of promotion, and safe from the drop, the remainder of the Leeds squad may possibly lack the motivation of the visitors who have not yet given up hope of landing the Championship.
Nationwide Div.1 - Brighton v MILLWALL 13/8
At first glance Millwall may look a bit off the pace down in 12th , but such is the tightness of the Nationwide's mid-table that they are in fact only 4 points away from the promotion play-off spots.
A nice run of three wins from three outings came to an unexpected halt at Preston two weeks ago. The 2-1 reverse there was then followed by a 2-0 defeat at home to 3rd placed Reading last week.
On the other hand 3rd-bottom Brighton are attempting to scramble their way out of the relegation zone and did their cause no harm with a fine 1-0 win away to Bradford last week which had followed an even more impressive 4-1 spanking of Wolves the previous week.
However given that Albion have yet to win three-in-a-row and the Lions have yet to lose three on the trot, and the fact that Millwall also have the added incentive of the Premiership remaining a realistic possibility, it could be the Londoners who edge it.
Home advantage is probably meaningless on this occasion as Brighton have only won three times, and lost no less than nine games at their own ground this season.
Nationwide Div.2 - BARNSLEY 11/10 v Huddersfield
Barnsley grim collection of 6 defeats and a single win from December to mid-January has taken them down to 15th place. However they clawed back respectability with 3 draws on the trot which ended with a decent enough 1-1 score line away to Cardiff who are in a loftier third spot.
Back to winning ways after this, beating Chesterfield who are one place above them before adding an away win against bottom club Cheltenham. Huddersfield are now only one place above the hapless Chesterfield, thanks to an overall tally of seven wins from 31 games.
A look at Huddersfield struggling last week for a lucky 3-3 escape against bottom club Cheltenham, suggests that Barnsley will not have much to do to turn their home advantage into 3 points here. The visitors have lost no less than ten games at home this so far season.
Expect the hosts to make it eleven.
Nationwide Div.3 - Southend v RUSHDEN & DIAMONDS 7/5
In a run of their last sixteen games Rushden have lost only twice, and to the same team; Oxford United. They followed the latest 3-1 reverse at Oxford in with a draw against lowly Swansea then drew again at Darlington last week.
Southend being in unlucky 13th place is down to their home record being almost as abysmal as their away attempts. Nine lost away and seven defeats at home so far.
More recently could only manage to scrape a home draw against 2nd-bottom Bristol Rovers, then last week a 3-0 defeat against 8th placed Wrexham. Doubt they will be giving the 2nd-place Diamonds re-invigorated push for the top spot much problems.
Suggested bet: Perm all four trebles plus the fourfold =5 bets @ £1 per unit. Total Stake=£5.00
Trebles Return:
Newcastle/Millwall/Barnsley = £13.23
Newcastle/Millwall/Rushden & Diamonds = £15.12
Newcastle/Barnsley/Rushden & Diamonds = £12.07
Millwall/Barnsley/Rushden & Diamonds = £13.23
Foursome pays £31.76 + all four trebles @ £53.65 = £85.41
Best Of The Rest:
Nationwide Div.1 - BURNLEY 11/10 v Derby
Nationwide Div.2
PETERBOROUGH 11/10 v Stockport
Port Vale v SWINDON 13/8
Nationwide Div.3
BRISTOL ROVERS 11/10 v Macclesfield
SCUNTHORPE EVS v Lincoln
TORQUAY 11/10 v Oxford
Conference
DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 6/5 v Chester
WOKING 11/8 v Morecambe
All prices quoted from Wm Hills.