Saints alive and ready to beat West Brom

Best bet of the weekend
Southampton to beat West Brom. Performances at St Mary’s are picking up under Mauricio Pellegrino and the return to goalscoring form of Manolo Gabbiadini against Newcastle last week has to be a real positive.

Saints will dominate possession and create chances and sooner or later they are going to put four or five past someone.

It might not be against the stubborn Baggies, but I’d definitely take a home win.

Vulnerable favorite
Manchester United are way too short at Huddersfield. I know Jose Mourinho has got injuries but the way they are playing at the moment is dire.

They were awful against Southampton, poor again when they went to Liverpool and no better at Benfica in midweek. They’ve scraped a few results of late but are doing nothing to encourage a bet on them at short odds.

So long as Huddersfield are learning lessons, they can keep this United side at bay.

Where’s the value at Wembley on Sunday?
Liverpool have a seriously impressive record against Tottenham over recent seasons and I can't see them losing at Wembley.

Spurs are full of confidence and the 1-1 draw at Real Madrid will be a massive spirit-lifter.

But it will also have taken plenty out of them while they still struggle to convince at their temporary home. I can see this ending as a draw – and there’s a case for backing no goalscorer too.

Premier League

Chelsea v Watford

Southampton v West Brom

Who would be a good fit for the Leicester job?
Brendan Rodgers. He’s done a fantastic job at Celtic but the defeats by Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich have shown him that he can go no further. Celtic will always win the SPL – and always be found out in the Champions League.

The gulf between the best in Scotland and the very best in Europe is immense. He needs to come back south now. His record at Liverpool more than stands comparison with Klopp and he could definitely get Leicester back into the top half.

More columns

Didi Hamann

Mark Langdon

Name the four European World Cup playoff winners

I like Ireland to beat Denmark. Come the big games, the games that really matter, Ireland get it right. They did so in Wales and they’ll do so again in Denmark.

The Danes have one or two good players but if the Irish can stop Christian Eriksen from playing, that’s more than half the battle.

I also think Northern Ireland are a big price to beat Switzerland. Italy and Croatia will take the other two spots.

Give us a midweek winner
You’ve got to think Palace are a fair old price at Bristol City. If you’ve just beaten Chelsea and your star man, Wilfried Zaha, is back and means business, things are looking up.

Palace have obviously done something right getting to the last 16 and this is the type of cup run that can give the whole club a lift.

I’m convinced that winning cup games can lift league performances, so I’d expect Hodgson to take a strong side to Ashton Gate.

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter@racingpostsport

Like us on FacebookRacingPostSport