The current Premiership season is drawing towards its final stages now, and with the expected battle for the title between the two Manchester clubs having rather fizzled out, much of the attention is being focused on other issues such as: Which teams will qualify for the Champions and Europa Leagues? And which ones will be relegated? These issues will be resolved within a couple of months however, which will leave football and betting fans looking for some other way to get their fix. Playing a football themed slot game like Soccer Safari may be the answer.

Soccer Safari is just one of the many football based slots games around, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a truly unique experience – in fact it is hard to imagine another game quite like this one. It involves animals playing each other in a World Cup tournament, deep in the jungles of Africa, and it is brought to life brilliantly by the graphics. The game found in MobileSlots.net features lions, buffalo, warthogs, leopards, and jackals as players on the reels, deer as cheerleaders, a zebra as the referee and an elephant and giraffe as the commentators. The game is aimed at an international audience, hence the World Cup theme to it, but with the elephant bearing a suspicious resemblance to Gary Lineker, it also makes a cheeky nod towards English football fans.

The bonus game is also really entertaining for anyone who loves football; because it involves having to score goals from different angles on the pitch. The round is triggered by obtaining a reel with at least three of the World Cup symbols on it.

The final, yet tempting reason why football fans might find Soccer Safari such an enjoyable a slots game, is the chance to play for a cool $8000 jackpot. Even if you don’t succeed in winning the ultimate jackpot, you do have a great chance of winning some money playing this game which, alongside how much fun it is, should make it a great option for any football and betting fan.

Brendan Rodger’s Liverpool make the short trip to face the blue half of Manchester at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon, and the Welshman will be hoping that the sudden upturn in their Premier League fortunes will play some part in what would be a monumental achievement, should they take all three points away from the current title holders.

Their humiliating 3-2 loss to Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup aside, Liverpool have come on in leaps and bounds since the turn of the new year; picking up 10 points from a possible 15 in their last 5 games and scoring goals galore – the only blot on their copybook being a 2-1 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The Reds showed great heart in their 2-2 draw on Wednesday against Arsenal at the Emirates, and with Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez firing on all cylinders, there is definitely potential to cause an upset in Manchester, but can that potential be realised?

Manchester City remain tremendously tough to beat at home. Everton and Manchester United are the only teams to take 3 points away from the Etihad in over two years, and visitors Liverpool have been on the receiving end of some heavy defeats there over the last couple of years.

Roberto Mancini is definitely missing his African contingent due to the Africa Cup Of Nations, Yaya Toure being the biggest loss; his presence visibly missing in City’s 0-0 draw with QPR at Loftus Road on Tuesday.

That said, Manchester City have an embarrassment of riches available in terms of players, and the departure of Mario Balotelli to AC Milan is sure to create a sense of calm on the training ground, which will surely contribute positively to the job in hand of catching city rivals Manchester United.

Bookmakers have made Manchester City 5/6 favourites to take the spoils, a price I think is very much on the generous side, with Liverpool available to back at 7/2. The stalemate is offered at around 11/4.

We have ascertained that the visitors are indeed improving into something like the team we expected at the beginning of the season, but after a tough game in London against Arsenal on Wednesday, it may be asking a little too much for them to beat the Premier League Champions in their own back yard.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini will accept nothing less than a win here in front of home fans, and I’m pretty confident that his star-studded team will once again raise their game after a rather dull 0-0 draw in midweek.

It’s also worth noting that Liverpool are yet to win a single game against top half opposition, both home and away. I’ll be backing Manchester City to continue that trend at very attractive odds.

Read more big match previews, betting tips and tutorials at TVBet

Well what a first day that was. Seven goals, two red cards, a penalty miss. The most goals in an opening day since 1960. Don’t think we could have asked for a better start. Greece did well to come back and get a draw, it would be surprising not to see Salpingidis start the second game. They could have easily won that game after being dominated for the first half. Giorgios Samaras should be nowhere near that team.

Not the worst start for one of the home nations, a point is not a disaster but puts some pressure on them to get something off the Russians.  If they can repeat the first half performance and avoid the second half showing then you never know. Was impressed with Rybus before he came off, thought he looked a good player.

Performance of the day has to go to Alan Dzagoev and his Russian team, they were superb, totally dominated the Czech Republic at times and with Kerzhakov not having an absolute nightmare it could have been 6 or 7 instead of the four goals they did get. Arshavin had a fantastic game, looked really in the mood. Denisov was quality in the midfield too.

For the Czech side, they need to take some positives from the second half. Pilar looks a very dangerous winger, Baros was typically Baros. He surely can’t be their best striker, if so they will finish last in this group.

On to the games:

NETHERLANDS v DENMARK

The Group of Death kicks off with the Dutch against the Danes, the same match that kicked off both sides tournament in South Africa two years ago. The Dutch found it tough then, and should find the same difficult game today. Will it be Huntelaar or van Persie, will it be Sneijder or van der Vaart, big decisions from a team that are one of the favourites.

Expect Denmark to give Holland a good game but in the end falter, and the Dutch to pick up all three points. Of course watch out for Christian Eriksen for the Danes, much talked about star at Ajax.

RESULT: NETHERLANDS 2 DENMARK 1

GERMANY v PORTUGAL

Massive game to finish the evening. Two of the competition favourites come together in the opening game and it will be crucial for either side not to lose. The Germans will start slight favourites, favourites for the game and of coruse favourites for the competition. If one team are to stop the German machine then it could just be Portugal. Their success will depend on the form of Cristiano Ronaldo but also how well Moutinho and Meireles play and I think Pepe and Alves could be quite dodgy at the back.

Although Germany have the likes of Gotze and Reus coming through, it looks like the same attacking threat from South Africa will start.   Klose should get the nod ahead of Mario Gomez, but two years older, it might be sooner rather than later that we see if Gomez can perform on the biggest stage. I do fancy both to trouble the Portuguese defence though.

RESULT: GERMANY 2 PORTUGAL 0

Throughout the tournament I’ll give myself ONE point for a correct result, and THREE points for a correct score. So from 31 games that’s a possible 93 points. I think the target for a successful tournament will be 40.

Only one point from Day One. Russia with the win

1/6

Football tournaments are a great chance to make some money, not just for punters but for betting companies too. Lots of money placed and lots of money lost. I have placed a few pre-tournament bets that I thought I’d share with you.

TOP GOALSCORER

I’ve picked quite a few players and place each-way bets on all of them.

SPAIN – Pedro 50/1

HOLLAND – Klass-Jan Huntelaar 18/1

GERMANY – Mesut Ozil 66/1

GERMANY – Lukas Podolski 28/1

FRANCE – Franck Ribery 50/1

POLAND – Robert Lewandowski 20/1

Mr Lewandowski got us off to a great start with a goal today. I’d hope at least one or two of these could finish in the top three goalscorers at the end of the tournament

Paddy Power were doing a special this morning if you pick four group winners you would still win if one of the team let you down.

I’ve gone with: FRANCE, SPAIN, GERMANY and RUSSIA

It worked out at around 19/1

My last bet is one backing FRANCE to win the whole tournament with Karim Benzema to be top scorer at 66/1

Hope everyone gets some money on and picks some winners.

Welcome back!

After a long long absence I have decided to post on here once again to make some predictions for Euro 2012.

Today the tournament kicks off in Warsaw with Poland v Greece and then later on it’s Russia v Greece in Wroclaw. Group A it seems will be very tight, lots of people are writing off Greece and the Czech Republic before a ball is kicked, but they both did well to qualify for this tournament, don’t count them out.

Onto today’s games:

POLAND v GREECE

I expect the hosts to kick off with a win, I think there will only be one goal in it. The Dortmund trio of Łukasz Piszczek, Jakub Błaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski will be a handful but the one to watch from one is Ludovic Obraniak. The Bordeaux midfielder ended the season really well and I expect him to do well and play a huge part in Poland’s success

RESULT: POLAND 2 GREECE 1

RUSSIA v CZECH REPUBLIC

This will be another close game. Russia are the favourites and the Czechs are being labelled the worst team in the tournament, they will however again be tough to beat. Russia’s win over Italy makes them a dangerous threat. Andrei Arshavin, Romain Pavlyuchenko, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Alexandre Kerzhakov will take  some stopping. Watch out for CSKA Moscow’s Alan Dzagoev, he really impressed me against Lille in the Champions League

RESULT: RUSSIA 2 CZECH REPUBLIC 0

I will reveal the bets I have made for the tournament after the first game.

I wanted to bring your attention to this excellent interview with Celtic legend Sean Fallon. Not only was he Celtic’s captain in the 1950′s but he played in the famous Celtic 7 Rangers 1 and then worked as Jock Stein’s #2 as The Bhoys won the European Cup in 1967.

The interview was conducted by my good friend Scott Johnston for his excellent site TheFootyBlog.net

CHECK OUT THE EXCELLENT INTERVIEW HERE

Here at gibfootballshow  you may have noticed I enjoy a trip to one of Yorkshire’s lesser known teams. You will find reports from lesser known teams Osset Albion to the big guns at Sheffield Wednesday, who were once part of the Yorkshire League. But how much do you really know about the Yorkshire Football league? Below is a quiz which will test your football knowledge.

So if there is a game on, why not invite a bunch of friends over, whether they are your Party Poker pals, your mates from the gym or your football friends, to play fantasy football, have a catch up and test your knowledge with the quiz below.

How long did the Yorkshire League exist and which teams made up the original League? 

It was a very short league, lasting just two years. It contained ten teams, with The Sheffield United reserves and Wombwell winning the league. The original ten teams were Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster Rovers, Huddersfield, Hunsley, Leeds, Mexborough, Sheffield United reserves, Sheffield Wednesday reserves and Wombwell.

Where did the team name Sheffield Wednesday come from? 

Sheffield Wednesday are based in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield. They are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world, ranking the fourth oldest in the English League. However, it was in 1929 when they altered their name and added in ‘Sheffield’.The team name is an unusual one because they are the only English team with a day of the week in their name. They used to play on Wednesdays due to the butchers who formed most of the team, having a half day on Wednesdays.

How do you pick between Osset Albion and Osset Town? Both are small teams near Wakefield in Yorkshire. They both play at the same level of football. What? Osset Albion has a fantastic pub two minutes from the ground and Osset Town is next to a bus station. Ladies and Gentleman, we have ourselves a winner!

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After the roaring success of last year it is time for another fantastic Non-League Day. If you don’t know what that is…shame on you. More information coming in a second. Since today was pay day there was simply no excuse to try and arrange a game to watch on Saturday, after a quick tweet I was inundated with offers.

@jacko2254 is going to Poole Town.@19danbrown is off to his new adopted side Kidderminster away to Wrexham. @twofootedtackle and the guys from @non_league_day and many others have chosen Dulwich Hamlet. Sheffield United fan @thefootysphere is going to the derby between Askern Villa and Rossington Main.

It’s great to see so many people going to different games. Where am I going? Ah that is the question.
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