What are the odds Lampard is on the Chelsea bench again at Wigan? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

By Derek McGovern in Betting Blog

Published 22:00 13/12/11

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Two top-flight refs, who shall of course remain fatherless, cost me a small fortune over the weekend and the soundtrack to this season has been the chant of, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing.’

I really do think the editor should stop being so unkind.

Losing managers ­traditionally lambast referees but now they get lambasted even more by losing punters – and it’s time these lambasteds ­smartened up their act.

Chris Foy and Mark ­Clattenburg did an awful lot more to decide the outcome of matches at the Britannia and Stamford Bridge than any of the players on view, certainly the ones in Manchester City shirts anyway.

With different officials, Tottenham – even with Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon in their side – would have won ­handsomely at Stoke, City would have collected three points at Chelsea, and I’d have ­pocketed bundles from Hills.

It’s got so bad this season that, for Tuesday night’s FA Cup replays, I asked my local betting shop if I could bet on the moral winners. They said they had no odds and even fewer morals.

Monday’s victory for Clattenburg-inspired Chelsea has blown the title race wide open – I didn’t realise it had been that windy.

Hills cut Chelsea from 12-1 to 8-1 and eased City to 4-5, with United 2-1, Spurs 20-1 and Robin van Persie 25-1.

Frank Lampard, who came off the sub’s bench to score Chelsea’s winner from the spot, is 4-9 with Boylesports to start against Wigan at the weekend.

I’d much sooner be on the 13-8 that he doesn’t – and the beauty of that bet is no referee can foul it up.

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BET OF THE DAY

A lie is a very poor substitute for the truth, but the only one known to date.

Get on Besiktas at 10-11 to beat Stoke on Wednesday.

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The UK has been hit by gale-force wind in the last couple of weeks, although I’ve had that problem most of my adult life.

Weathermen are warning that heading our way this week are gales of 100mph – or, as Michael Fish calls them, fairly stiff breezes.

The Met Office are given a lot of stick for getting things wrong all the time but, to be fair, they predicted showers last night and they were right. I know I took one.

I asked my neighbour if his shed was damaged by this week's high winds and he said he wasn’t sure – he hadn’t yet found it.

If we’re going to have high winds, then Christmas is a good time for them – one way or another we’re gonna have a tree in the house.

Ladbrokes offer 3-1 that 100mph winds hit Britain this week and 2-1 for 80mph winds.

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Audience research found that Daybreak viewers considered Adrian Chiles too grumpy for the breakfast sofa and Christine Bleakley too dopey.

The two axed presenters are now considering seasonal panto work.

Bleakley is to become the new co-host of Dancing On Ice, but ITV are faced with the problem of what to do with Chiles, who is on a four-year contract worth £6million, despite being deemed sourpuss to requirements on Daybreak.

The race to replace them is far more interesting than anything they presented on Daybreak, with Natasha Kaplinsky 1-3 favourite with Hills to get the Bleakley role – wide of mouth, vacant of expression.

The 39-year-old Brighton-born belle has sat on the couch with Dermot Murnaghan, she’s sat on the couch with Bruce Forsyth, and she’s sat on the arm of the couch with Eamonn Holmes.

The Irishman is perhaps the safest pair of hands in broadcasting, especially when gripping doughnuts, and, at 5-1 with Hills to get the male gig, he makes far more appeal than 10-11 favourite Matt Barbet.

Barbet works for London TV, so millions of viewers will have never seen him.

On that basis he’ll fit right in on Daybreak.

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