Chelsea (5/4) are preparing to host Manchester United (9/4) in what the Blues hope will be a repeat of the last league game between the two sides.

United were beaten 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in April, merely a month before triumphing over Chelsea in the Champions League final, with the Premier League crown already successfully defended.

Despite their superiority in silverware, United have only picked up a paltry two points from their last possible 18 at Stamford Bridge, last nicking a draw in May 2007. The two teams are 9/4 to be deadlocked at the final whistle.

Chelsea boss Jose Felipe Scolari looks set to hand Didier Drogba his first league start of the season after an appearance from the bench in the 3-1 win over Manchester City signalled the 30-year-old’s comeback from a knee injury.

The imposing Ivory Coast international, who was the Premier League’s top scorer two seasons ago, is 6/1 favourite to break his early season duck by grabbing the first goal and 2/1 to score at any time.

United could be buoyed by their own return, with Cristiano Ronaldo in line for his season debut after a mid-week outing as substitute in the 0-0 Champions League draw with Villarreal.

In the short time he was on the pitch in the European fixture, Ronaldo seemed to inject some much-needed directness into disappointing United’s play - the Portuguese winger, who netted an amazing 42 goals in all competitions last season, is 6/1 to draw first blood in this battle of the big-guns and 2/1 to strike over the 90 minutes.

Chelsea’s midfield dynamo Deco is sure the Blues will not be intimidated be the presence of his Portugal team-mate: “We are not obsessed by him. He is just one player and we are strong enough to deal with him.”

Deco has made an impressive start to life in the Premier League. The former Barcelona man - whose opening day decider against Wigan confirmed he is a threat from long range - is 12/1 to break the deadlock, 4/1 to score at anytime and an interesting 8/1 to score from outside the box.

In other fixtures this weekend, Liverpool (1/5) attempt to keep up their promising early-season form with a win over Stoke City (14/1) at Anfield. Fresh from a brace in the Champions League victory over Marseilles in mid-week, captain fantastic Steven Gerrard is 9/2 to make his 100th Liverpool goal the opener.

Elsewhere, manager-less Newcastle United (11/4) travel to Upton Park to face West Ham (evens) for new boss Gianfranco Zola’s first match in charge and Arsenal (8/13) face former bogey team Bolton (5/1) in a traditionally testing fixture for the Gunners.

A north-east derby takes place at the Stadium of Light as Sunderland (11/8) - languishing in 17th position - host ninth place Middlesbrough (2/1), while Roy Hodgson’s Fulham (12/5) look to take advantage of their game in hand by turning over Blackburn (11/10) at Ewood Park.

Will the champions choke at Chelsea? Click Here!

In many ways, sports gamblers are a step ahead of the general public when it comes to statistics. Football bettors have used Yards Per Pass Attempt as a measure of rating team’s passing game for years, long before it became a generally used statistic by everyone.

Sports bettors who wager on college football or basketball have used Average Opponent’s Power Rating for decades, and the stat is now commonly used by the public under the guise of Strength of Schedule.

But there’s another statistic that football bettors have used for years that hasn’t caught on with the public yet and that is Yards Per Point. Yards Per Point is a quick and easy method that lets football bettors access the offensive and defensive strength of a particular team.

It’s important to note that while Yards Per Point can be used for college football, its primary use is for the NFL, as there is less of a difference in the relative strength of schedule in the professional game than there is in the college game.

How Yards Per Point Works

To calculate the Yards Per Point of any team you will need several statistics that are readily available; the points the team has scored and allowed, as well as the offensive yards gained and the defensive yards allowed by the team.

To get the team’s offensive Yards Per Point simply divide the offensive yards gained by the number of points scored. (If the statistics available to you are per game, you can simply use those, as it will yield the same result as using season statistics.

In 2007, the New England Patriots averaged 411.2 offensive yards per game and scored 36.8 points per game. To get New England’s offensive Yards Per Point (YPP) take 411.2 and divide by 36.8 to get a total of 11.17. What this means is that the Patriots averaged one point for every 11.17 yards they gained.

One the other hand, a team like the 4-12 Kansas City Chiefs averaged 276.8 yards of offense per game and scored an average of 14.1 points per game. Kansas City’s offensive YPP is then 19.63 (276.8/14.1 = 19.63). Therefore, Kansas City scored an average of one point for every 19.63 yards gained.

Naturally, a low number is best for offense, as the fewer yards the team needs to travel before scoring, the better.

Defensive YPP figures are calculated in the same manner, except that yards allowed and points allowed are used. New England allowed 288.3 yards and 17.1 points per game, so their defensive YPP would be 16.86. Kansas City allowed 319.4 yards per game and surrendered 20.9 points per game and would have a defensive YPP rating of 15.28.

Uses of Yards Per Point

There is really no limit to the uses of YPP calculations. Some bettors will use season statistics, while others will use just statistics from the past four to six weeks. Others, still, will use both.

One of the most popular methods for using YPP is simply taking the yards allowed by each team and dividing by the opposition’s offensive YPP to come up with a quick predicted score.

For example, using our Kansas City and New England statistics from above, we see that the Chiefs allow and average of 319.4 defensive yards per game. Divide that figure by New England’s offensive YPP rating of 11.17 and we get a quick figure of 28.6, which is New England’s predicted score.

New England allowed 288.3 yards per game, which divided by Kansas City’s offensive YPP number of 19.63 would yield a predicted score of 14.7. Therefore, our quick YPP figures make New England 13.9 points better than Kansas City with a predicted total of 43.3 points.

In future articles we’ll look at more uses of Yards Per Point in action, but now you should have a decent understanding of the concept and may want to do some experimenting on your own.

source: sportsgambling.about.com

The oddsmakers and the betting public weren’t all that impressed with the New York Giants’ victory over the Patriots, as New England is a solid favorite to win Super Bowl XLIII. The Patriots are roughly at odds of 3-1 (+300), with the next closest teams the Colts and the Chargers, both available in the +750 range.
The Dallas Cowboys are favored to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, as Dallas can be found around +800 to win the Super Bowl. The Giants are the second-highest NFC team listed, but can be found at odds around 15-1 to repeat as champions.

A look at all football teams:

New England +300
Indianapolis, San Diego +750
Dallas +800
Jacksonville, New York Giants +1400
Green Bay +2000
Minnesota, Pittsburgh +2500
Seattle +2800
Cleveland +3300
Chicago, Denver, Tennessee, Washington +4000
Arizona, Cincinnati, Carolina, Tampa Bay +5000
Baltimore +6600
Buffalo, Detroit, Houston, San Francisco, St. Louis +8000
Kansas City, New York Jets, Oakland +10000
Miami +12500
Atlanta +15000

The best thing bettors can do is to shop for the best lines on their team at as many different sportsbooks as possible. Odds will vary greatly between sportsbooks for futures NFL bets, and sports gamblers need to grab every advantage they possibly can.

More SuperBowl Betting Odds at BetUS.com