Manchester City crushed Watford to win the FA Cup on Saturday and the Hornets failing to find a way past Ederson Moraes on the day cost us, while few could have foreseen Real Madrid losing 2-0 to Real Betis at the Bernabeu.
Running total: -£67.70
The Banker
Dundee United face a huge Scottish Premiership playoff against St Mirren on Thursday night and the Tangerines looks a decent price at 11/10 to win the first leg. The Championship runners-up beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3-0 at Tannadice to earn a 4-0 aggregate win, and are finishing the season strongly. St Mirren travel to Tannadice for the first leg, having lost to Dundee United in the Scottish Cup back in February. The Paisley side beat Dundee 3-2 on the final day of the season but that win was not enough to see them avoid a playoff and Oran Kearney’s men look up against it here.
Selection: £5 on Dundee United to win at 11/10 with bet365.
The First Goal Flutter
Lazio are unbeaten against Bologna in 11 meetings and look rightful 13/10 favourites to win Monday evening’s Serie A clash. It’s been a frustrating season for the Biancocelesti, who with two games to go now cannot finish in the top four. Ciro Immobile has still weighed in with 14 goals for the Rome giants and could be worth a punt here. The Italian international is a 9/2 shot to score two goals or more in the game and that looks fair given Bologna’s defensive frailties on the road.
Selection: Immobile to score two goals or more at 9/2 with bet365.
International Focus
The domestic season might be winding down but there’s a decent chunk of international action for punters to get stuck into this summer.
The Copa America kicks off on June 14 and Brazil are clear 5/4 favourites with bet365 for a tournament they will be hosting. Original grandiose plans for a 16-team Copa have been put on ice but Japan and Qatar are involved this year while 4/1 second favourites Argentina go into the event with a caretaker boss.
Hosts Egypt are 4/1 favourites to win the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations but Ivory Coast — available at 8/1 with bet365 — could surprise a few. In Nicolas Pepe, the Elephants have a striker who could emerge as potentially one of African football’s next superstars. Only Kylian Mbappe scored more goals than him in Ligue 1 and if he stars in Egypt he’s likely to have all the top clubs across Europe purring in admiration.
Before all that we have the Nations League kicking off on June 5. Portugal are hosts and bet365 make them 15/8 favourites. However, in truth the tournament looks wide open, with Gareth Southgate’s England chalked up at 9/4 — though they have several key players set to be involved in the Champions League ifnal on June 1. Netherlands, a vibrant young side bolstered with various Ajax players who lit up the Champions League this season are a 5/2 chance while Switzerland are 6/1 outsiders.