Weekend Best Bets

One of the greatest tennis stories of my lifetime is indeed Stan Wawrinka, who for a period of time during the Big Four era stole the hearts of tennis fans by winning three Grand Slam titles between 2014 and 2016. A decade on from his last Grand Slam win, Wawrinka is back on the major stage, where he once dominated.

On Saturday evening, the 41 year old Wawrinka will come up against a much younger and more rested Taylor Fritz, who at age 28 is the ninth seed in this year’s edition of the Australian Open. When discussing this matchup, I think fatigue will be a major factor in how it plays out, as Wawrinka is coming off a four hour, 33 minute battle against Arthur Gea. For Fritz, he had a much more straightforward victory and will be considerably fresher than his opponent.

So, with his talent and athleticism advantage alone, Fritz would already be heavily favoured. When you factor in how much more rested he is, it makes me think he could comfortably cover the spread in this one.

Liverpool are slowly becoming the team many thought they could be after their record breaking transfer window, where they essentially kept the core of a championship side while adding some of the best talent from around Europe to create a new, young group of stars.

The gelling process of that team took a while, to the point where Arne Slot was being talked about in the media as potentially losing his job. However, about halfway through the season, Liverpool have slowly become one of the top sides in the league once again and are no longer making as many game breaking mistakes.

This weekend, though, they are set to travel to Bournemouth to take on the Cherries, who are slowly becoming one of the most dangerous perennial mid table teams in the league. The biggest issue they have come across is that their best player was taken away by Manchester City, and now they will need someone to fill the shoes of Antoine Semenyo.

While I think Bournemouth will prove to be a tough challenge for Liverpool, the value in the win market still seems like a solid play.

Coming up on Sunday, the hometown hero Alex de Minaur will play his fourth round tie against 28 year old, 10th seed Alexander Bublik. These two have a bit of history between them, with Bublik launching two major comeback victories against de Minaur in some big matches across last season.

What is also interesting about these two is the contrasting styles of the players. Bublik is a power hitter with a big serve and loves to win points early in rallies. For de Minaur, he is of a similar ilk to the way Rafa Nadal used to play, which is to never give up on any point.

I did not want to call how this one could play out, because both players have reasons I could see them taking this match. Instead, I turned to the set market. From there, I felt this one is going to be close, and taking it to go to four sets seems like a reasonable play for this top 10 showdown.

Two sides that have generally been in and around the mix of the top half of the Premier League table for a few years now. For Villa, they caught fire through a portion of this season and, because of other top tier teams floundering, see themselves sitting in third place on the table. For Newcastle, after losing Isak, they have begun to bounce back from a horrendous start to their season and are certainly starting to pick up some form.

In this one, Villa are travelling to St James’ Park, where Newcastle recently defended their home territory rather comfortably against PSV in midweek Champions League action. For Villa, they are looking to bounce back into form after dropping points in their last few games.

However, if you are looking for value in an underdog, Aston Villa are just that. They clearly have the talent and ability to take it to major clubs in the Premier League, both home and away. While they are not in scintillating form, I think across this slate of Premier League football, this is my favourite value in regards to a double chance play

If you had to compare this NFL season’s rivalries to something like the great trilogy between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the season series that comes to mind is the LA Rams versus the Seattle Seahawks. Meaning, it is only fitting that the third time these teams meet this year is in the NFC Championship game, where they will fight for a bid to head to Santa Clara and this year’s Super Bowl.

After seeing their first two bouts, I think this game will live up to the hype, as the two heavyweight sides will look to throw haymaker after haymaker, giving neither side the chance to run away with the contest. For me, that looks like both teams constantly needing to respond offensively and make plays just to stay in the game.

That is no disrespect to either side’s defensive units, as they are among the best in the league. However, based on what we have seen when these two sides have clashed this season, the overs on the points total looks like a serious play.