On Monday May 11th Middlesbrough make the short journey to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle United in what should be an ethralling relegation battle. Both sides desperately need three points if they are to put together a run and make a last dash towards survival and the game should be appraoched by the players like a cup-final.

To be totally honest I’m not expecting the game to display too much quality. Newcastle have only managed two points from their last six games, while Boro haven’t faired much better and have managed just four points. In relegation battles though it is the passion which often decides the outcome and I’m anticipating both sides to come out fighting as they bid to retain their Premier League status.

As the game is at St James’ Park the Newcastle faithful should be in full voice and the atmosphere should be electric. If Middlesbrough are to emerge victorious they will really need to attack Newcastle in the opening stages and silence the Toon army. This will be no easy task but I have noticed a slight improvement in Boro’s form over the last few games despite the losses, though they were at the hands of Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.

There will be a number of key battles across the pitch that will decide the outcome of the tie. If Newcastle name three up front with Obafemi Martins, Michael Owen and Mark Viduka then there should be plenty of chances for Newcastle, if their fairly poor midfield can create them. Boro’s defence hasn’t actually been that bad over the course of the season and their main problem has been scoring goals.

The game could rely on the performances of key players in both teams. In Newcastle’s case they will be looking to Martins, Owen and Jonas Gutierrez to lift their performance. Owen is the kind of player who can remain anonymous for 89 minutes but pop up with a goal anyway and Newcastle will be hoping he rediscovers his scoring form. The pace of Martins causes all kinds of trouble for defenders while Gutierrez is perhaps their most likely midfielder to create the openings for the strikers.

From a Middlesbrough perspective they need Stewart Downing to put in a heroic display. I’ve always thought Downing is a little overrated but he can deliver a decent ball and he has a fairly good shot on him. £12million flop Afonso Alves could finally endear himself to the Riverside crowd if he manages to get amongst the goals while loan star Marlon King could earn a permanent move to Boro if he manages to bag a few in the last three games of the season.

What this game lacks in quality should be more than made up for in passion. As well as it being a local derby it is a must win game for both sides and we really are set for a fierce battle on Tyneside. I wouldn’t like to predict a winner, it really is a tight encounter and it could all hinge on a single piece of quality to provide the winning goal. One thing is for sure though, it’s a safe football bet that this game will be played like a cup-final and should make for essential viewing.

Our predictions this week were nothing short of abysmal.

But our friends at Wakuba, a subscription betting service (with some free content) did a whole lot better.

A bumper – nay lucrative – weekend for them, and therefore us, included backing Dortmund in the Bundesliga, laying both Arsenal and Rangers, and then somewhat more spectacularly Tim Cahill to score first in the Everton Game (playing as a makeshift striker) at 11/1, and previously, which made a nice end to the weekend, Chris Hoy to win Sports Personality of the year at around 6/1.

That’s the Christmas shopping taken care of then.

A subscription to their site for everyone…

That’s what our friends at Wakuba think….

http://wakuba.com/2008/12/next-sunderland-manager/

Both English sides lost last night, but with contrasting consequences – Villa’s surprise 2-1 home defeat to Zilina did not stop them qualifying due to results elsewhere, but Portsmouths’ 3-2 defeat in Wolfsburg meant they could not progress.

Obviously lots of goals last night, which is nice, as thanks to our friends at Wakuba we backed over 2.5 goals in the Portsmouth match. They also gave us an under-the-table long shot of Zilina at 11-1 – we’ll be dining out on that for a while!

If you like tales of betting woe, read on… the other bet we had was the last goal in the Pompey game being after the 74th minute. Joy became despair/anger when we realised Wolfsburg’s third goal was during rather than after the 74th minute (73.25 to be precise – 35 seconds too early). Hope anew with the award of a penalty to the Germans after 81 minutes – only for them to miss it!

A profitable night nonetheless…