What are the odds Manchester City win more trophies than Manchester United this season Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

By Derek McGovern in Betting Blog

Published 23:00 31/08/11

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Bookies bet365 offer 11-10 for a Manchester one-two in the race for the Premier League title.

I’d say that was buying money – but City have already bought it all.

Sunday’s 5-1 romp over Tottenham at White Hart Lane suggests big-spending Roberto Mancini has finally found the answer to the age-old question: How many millions do I need to pump into my team to make Edin Dzeko look good?

The answer is £450million and counting.

And what City fans are counting are their chickens.

You look through their team and it doesn’t seem to have a weakest link, though in Carlos Tevez it does have the missing link.

Nine points from three games may sound healthy, but if I’d spent that sort of dough I’d be looking for at least 12.

Quotes of 250-1 for City to do the four-timer have a degree of appeal, but don’t quote me on that.

A fixture pile-up won’t be a problem because City can put out two teams capable of beating anyone.

In fact, I reckon they’ll be putting out every team they meet.

Their big challenge is the Champions League, but only because their group rivals from Germany (Bayern Munich), Spain (Villarreal) and Italy (Napoli) could present dual-ownership problems for City supremo Sheikh Mansour, who intends to own all three countries by then.

City are 9-4 with bet365 to win more trophies than United this season, which deserves a trophy in itself for being the best bet of the decade.

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Stamford Bridge is fast becoming a graveyard for expensive strikers and that’s really bad news for Chelsea fans, as the club doesn’t buy cheap.

Fernando Torres has already achieved the impossible with the Blues – being compared unfavourably to Andriy Shevchenko.

Roman Abramovich now has four oil wells in Russia dedicated to paying for misfiring strikers.

Torres has scored only once for Chelsea and as that was against relegation-bound West Ham, it shouldn’t really count.

Strikers from Aldershot score against West Ham and you can get a lot of them for £50million.

In fact, you get all of them for £50m – past, present and future.

Chelsea fans aren’t convinced whether Torres can play with Didier Drogba.

Indeed, they’re not sure he can play with anyone else or even alone.

Torres helped Drogba recover from his sickening clash with the Norwich goalkeeper on Saturday.

When he regained consciousness Torres told him there was good news and bad news.

“The good news is I’ve scored two goals for Chelsea,” he said. “The bad news is that it’s 2016.”

Hills go just 11-4 for the Spaniard to end up with fewer than six Premier League goals this season.

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Transfer deadline day on Sky Sports News is a bit like dogging: Cameras, car parks, whispers of cash deals.

I’m not talking from ­experience – I cancelled my Sky Sports subscription a long time ago.

Harry Redknapp prefers to get his business done just before the deadline – and, as a journalist, I can empathise. Mine invariably gets done just after.

New Spurs signing Scott Parker is 20-1 with Sky Bet to retain his Football Writers’ award – a bet to be swerved at all costs.

When did Parker last write something about football that won an award.

When did I, for that matter?

Parker won last year as he had players around him that made him look world-class.

But those were his West Ham team-mates.

This year, Parker will be in a Spurs sh...

Maybe it isn’t such a bad bet after all.

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BET OF THE DAY

My grandad's last words were, "You selfish boy!"

I respected his wishes. The first chance I got, I became a fishmonger.

Get on Juan Ignacio Chela at evens to beat Steve Darcis in the US Open tennis today.

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