BILLY BUNTER

Weblog: The football punter

No rest for wicked me during this little lull

After all the excitement over the international break there's a bit of a lull for football punters today.

I don't know about you but I can't seem to find an edge in the Ethiopia-Somalia World Cup qualifier – fair play to the odds compilers on that one.

Instead, I'll spend the day taking off my international hat and putting on my domestic hat to have a look atthe weekend's Premier League fixtures (I'm talking literally, by the way – I really do wear different hats for punting on international and domestic football).

Early thoughts are that Arsenal should keep up their good run of form at Norwich – we all know the Gunners are vulnerable up north but I reckon they'll enjoy their trip to the far east – and that Newcastle can avoid a battering at Manchester City.

Speaking of Newcastle, I see David Ginola is taking legal action over Gerard Houllier's comments about his part in France's failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

Let's hope nobody tells David what I used to yell at him when I'd backed Newcastle or Spurs and he was messing around, flicking his lovely hair and trying to beat a full-back 17 times rather than delivering a perfect cross onto Les Ferdinand's forehead.

I don't want to get into trouble with the French legalsystem but the judge has got to be tempted to award Ginola damages simply "because he's worth it".