BILLY BUNTER

Weblog: The football punter

Napoli research will test out golden betting rules

THERE are two bits of golden betting advice that I always aim to follow.

You should always do your homework and if you see a price that seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Well I'm going to be putting that to the test next week as I'm finding it hard to fathom why Napoli are 6-4 to qualify from their Champions League last-16 battle with Chelsea that begins on Wednesday.

The Blues are in all sorts of a mess, the players appear to be
bleating in the press about Andre Villas-Boas without having the guts to put their name to the quotes and they have only won two of their last ten league matches.

They were all over the shop at Everton last week, so I'm tempted to wade in.

But tonight a chance presents itself for me to be sensible and conduct some further research as those nice folks at ESPN have put on Napoli's trip to Fiorentina.

I feel that I'm just about to embark on a scouting mission.

I know all about Cavani. He's a cracking player and his team more than deserved to take four points from their two games against Man City in the group stages.

They've slipped away from a place that would guarantee their
participation in the tournament next season and have suffered too many draws.

I might be tempted to back another stalemate tonight as both teams have been going pretty well.

But that shall be incidental and not central to the plot.

I want to see things that encourage me for Wednesday and in doing that I'm going to follow a third golden rule.

I'm going to trust my own eyes.