The seventh edition of ‘Round the Sports World in five minutes’ will give you the betting lowdown and analysis ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Rangers v Panathinaikos in Champions League Qualifying and the Fourth Test between England and India.
The Belgian Grand Prix Formula One
- Start: Sunday, 27 July at 14:00
- Venue: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event
- Fun Fact: Though winning this race is hard work, once you’ve done it once, it becomes considerably easier. Michael Schumacher won it a record six times, including three in a row between 1995 and 1997, while Lewis Hamilton and the late Ayrton Senna both won it five times, the latter managing to do so four years in a row between 1988 and 1991.
Betting
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is currently leading the F1 World Championship with 234 points, but team-mate Lando Norris is hot on his heels, just eight points behind on 226, in a battle for the World Championship that looks like it’s going to go down to the wire.
So it’s perhaps no surprise that bwin can’t split the two when it comes to the winner of the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix, the 13th race out of the 24 on the calendar.
Bwin make both of them 2.75 with Max Verstappen the next in the betting at 5.0, while the struggling Lewis Hamilton is out at 13.0; his form this season suggests that price isn’t big enough. Recent results suggest Norris is the better of the two prices, having won three of the last five races, including the last two in Austria and Great Britain.
For those who would rather go with a safer bet than try to pick which of those two will come out on top, a win for McLaren, covering both Norris and Piastri, is just 1.4.
Summary
Spa may not have the glitz and glamour of the likes of Monaco or Imola, but both the pro racing driver and the seasoned, knowledgeable F1 fan know this is one of the most testing, exciting and unpredictable circuits on the calendar.
The first reason for that is the challenging 19 corners on the track, including the uphill left-right-left Eau Rouge and Blanchimont, a fast, sweeping left-hander.
Then there’s the notoriously moody Spa weather where one part of the track can be bone dry and another can be extremely wet, making both driving and tyre choices extremely hard.
Whoever wins here will have thoroughly deserved it because this is a track where victory is reserved for the drivers who can do the lot in the face of numerous different challenges.
Rangers v Panathinaikos Champions League Qualifying Second Round First Leg
- Start: Tuesday, 22 July at 19:45
- Venue: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow
- TV Coverage: Premier Sports 1
- Fun Fact: These two sides have met four times in European competitions (twice in 2003 and twice in 2008) with three of those four games ending in draws and the other a 3-1 win for Panathinaikos in Glasgow in 2003.
Betting
Rangers are traditionally very strong at home, and they say the vociferous crowd support is worth an extra player when Ibrox is really rocking on big European nights. And they don’t come much bigger than this one with Champions League qualification at stake.
That’s part of the reason why Rangers are 1.8 with Betfred to win the first leg, with the draw 3.4 and the Greek outfit available at 4.0 for an away win.
If that price on Rangers doesn’t quite do it for you, the home win without conceding is 3.1 while a Rangers win while conceding in the process is 3.6.
Summary
For many European teams, even just qualifying for the Champions League is the equivalent of a year’s total budget, so you can see why it’s so vital for the likes of Rangers and Panathinaikos to do so.
This is very much the glamour tie of the second qualifying round, given that while neither side can be said to be European giants, far from it, they’re among the biggest clubs on the domestic front with big fanbases, so there will be plenty of eyeballs set on this one.
That said, there’s still some way to go after this with a third qualifying round and a final Play-off round still left to negotiate for the winner of this tie before they’re in the Champions League proper. The loser of this tie goes to the Europa League third qualifying round.
England v India 4th Test
- Start: Wednesday, 23 July at 11:00
- Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester, UK
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Cricket
- Fun Fact: England will be pretty happy about the all-important Fourth Test being played here at Old Trafford, in Manchester. In the last 18 times they’ve played here, since 2001, they lost just once, against Australia in 2019, winning 14 and drawing three.
Betting
England’s impressive win at Edgbaston in the Third Test has made the likes of Ladbrokes stand up and take note that this England side is not a one-dimensional one that only knows how to attack and win matches when they’re chasing a fourth-innings total. They showed they can also bowl as a team out cheaply on the last day, which is exactly what they did last week.
As a result, they’ve been cut to just 2.0 to win at Old Trafford, with the draw 3.75 and India out at 3.25.
Away from the main market, the 7.0 on the highly talented but somewhat inconsistent Ollie Pope for England first innings top batsman catches the eye, while the 2.75 on the brilliant Jasprit Bumrah to be India's Top Bowler in the first innings should see plenty of business.
Summary
This has been an excellent Series so far with two well-matched, competitive teams giving it their all and reminding all cricket fans that Test cricket is very much alive and well, at least when it comes to these two sides.
England skipper Ben Stokes rolled back the years last week with an amazing spell of bowling on the final day to go with two decent knocks with the bat, that got him the Player of the Match award, and helped put England 2-1 up in the Series. In yesteryear, an England captain may have been thinking how a draw here would mean they couldn’t lose the Series with just one match to go after this.
But Stokes, in the ‘Bazball’ era, won’t be seeing things that way and will carry on encouraging his players to play their usual aggressive brand of cricket and go for the win. Something’s gotta give.
Betting Tip of the Week: Back the draw in Rangers v Panathinaikos
These look like two very evenly matched sides that will take to the field on Tuesday night. Although Rangers will be desperate to take a lead into the second leg, that’s easier said than done against this good Greek side.
What they definitely won’t want is to go to Athens in a week trailing in the leg, so if it’s a draw after 70 minutes or so, they may just settle for that. With three out of four matches between these two ending in stalemates in the past, we may just get another here, at 3.4.
