What are the odds Phil Jones ISN'T in England's Euro 2012 squad? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

By Derek McGovern in Betting Blog

Published 22:30 09/01/12

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Manchester City in round three and now Liverpool in round four.

If Manchester United are going to win the FA Cup they’re going to do it the hard way... with Phil Jones in the side.

Likened at the start of his Old Trafford career to Duncan Edwards, Jones is quickly emerging as the English John O’Shea.

Abysmal at Newcastle a week ago, Jones was ­arguably worse against City on Sunday. If he’s international class, so are Scotland.

Bet365 give Jones a quote of 7-4 not to be in the England squad at Euro 2012, which looks better every time you look at it. In other words, the complete opposite of Jones.

The Liverpool v United clash takes Patrice Evra to Anfield for the first time since the race row with Luis Suarez.

Fergie, who took Wayne Rooney out of the misfiring line before a trip to ­Goodison because of off-the-field concerns, is 10-3 with Hills to rest Evra for the tie and about 1-8 to give him earplugs.

Sunday’s cup action saw one of the worst decisions in recent football history and also one of the best.

The worst? The red card for City’s skipper.

The best? Paul Scholes’ decision to retire.

One’s called Kompany, the other limited.

Fergie threw on Scholes to take the p**s out of City and it almost backfired as badly as my car.

Hills offer 10-11 for Scholes to make fewer than four Premier League starts this season and that’s buying money on weekend evidence.

Kompany is 13-8 with Hills to have his red card rescinded on appeal – unlikely because it’s clear that Shrek saw the incident.

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Neil Warnock's departure from QPR was a sad day for football – it means he could be back soon as Match Of The Day pundit.

It was only last week that Warnock was rated the most unpopular manager in the Premier League. Now he’s the most unpopular manager out of the Premier League.

Warnock has ­regularly shown that he can’t cut the mustard at the top level – though not as regularly as QPR – and Bet365 offer just 8-11 that his next job is in the Championship. He’s 9-2 to mismanage next in the Premier League.

On Monday, oe bookie suspended betting on Mark Hughes taking over at Loftus Road. An early 6-5 chance, he shortened to 1-10 during the morning.

Clearly when Sparky walked out on Fulham without explanation he was waiting for the QPR job to come up.

Should he take the Rangers gig, Sparky will be licking his lips at the prospect of an FA Cup clash with his old club Chelsea, thereby risking electrocution.

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BET OF THE DAY

Here's a quick way to lose weight – subtract your birth weight because you haven’t gained that part.

Take 2-1 that there will be fewer than two goals in Tuesday’s Carling Cup semi-final.

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The referee, the judges, and the man in the hat are all on a list of excuses Amir Khan is using to explain his recent defeat by Lamont Peterson.

But sometimes you just gotta hold your hands up and take it on the chin, like Khan did during most of the fight.

I notice in a survey of the worst excuses employers heard last year the top three have all been used by me – last week.

They are: 1. Sorry, my AA meeting ran late; 2. I drove to the place I’d rather work at by mistake; and 3. I dreamed I was playing in the Cup Final and the match went to extra time so I had to sleep in and get the result.

Khan didn’t stick to his game plan. Mike Tyson once said: “Everybody has a game plan until they get punched in the face.”

The boo-hooing means a rematch now looks on the cards. Hills make Khan 2-9 favourite; Peterson 3-1.

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