New Year's Eve Football - North East side can win battle of the Boros

It's the last day of 2011 so we're trying to win big & give us happy memories of the year, our best football bets for the day are below & as usual we've looked through the leagues to find the best bets available. As ever you can follow us on Twitter (there's a follow button at the top of the page) so please do & join in the conversation.

(After beating Sheffield Wednesday can Walsall stretch their unbeaten run to five games?)

In League One Walsall host Rochdale at the Bescot Stadium, the game represents an early relegation six pointer with Walsall in 18th & one point of the relegation places whilst Rochdale are 23rd & two points off safety. Walsall will be full of confidence after beating high flyers Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 with goals in injury time through Claude Gnakpa & Emmanuele Smith on Boxing Day. They are now unbeaten in four league games, including a draw with league leaders Charlton, as they look to climb the table & put daylight between themselves & the relegation places. At home their form is decent with three wins & four draws in their 12 matches which gives them a points haul of a mid table side. Visitors Rochdale have struggled all season & have suffered five defeats in their last eight league matches. Their away form reads seven defeats, one draw & two victories in their ten league games & they have only kept one clean sheet. Walsall can prove too strong for a struggling Rochdale outfit at the best price of 11/8 with Victor Chandler.

(Is Tony Mowbray leading Middlesbrough back to the Premiership?)

In the Championship, Middlesbrough entertain Peterborough United at the Riverside. Middlesbrough are fighting for automatic promotion with Southampton & West Ham whilst Peterborough are sitting comfortably in mid table. Boro are having a fantastic December with four wins from four & have beaten fellow play-off teams Cardiff City & Hull City in their last two. Their home record is impressive with only one defeat in 12 matches but at the start of the season they struggled to put sides away which resulted in a number of drawn matches. They seem to have resolved this issue of late & have won their last two home matches & three of their last five. They welcome a Peterborough side which have an average record on the road with six defeats, three draws & three wins in their 12 league games. They are a entertaining side for the neutral but have conceded at least one goal in 92% of their away matches & against a Boro side who have a formidable defensive record of only 9 goals conceded at home (50% of home matches resulting in clean sheets) they are going to give themselves a mount to climb if these trends continue. We feel that Middlesbrough are an accumulator banker this weekend & will comfortably beat Peterborough at the best price of 3/4 with Boylesports.

(Aston Villa's star player against Chelsea?)

Finally we come to Chelsea taking on Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge where the London outfit are a warm order to beat Alex McCleish's men even though they've drawn their last 3 games (all 1-1) & have won just 4 of their last 10 league games. Villa are hardly in splendid form as they've lost 4 of their last 7 games but those losses were to Spurs, Man United, Arsenal & Liverpool so little disgrace there, they drew with Stoke last time out but got a clean sheet in the process which will give a much needed boost to their defence that have struggled recently at set pieces. They have struggled for goals all year but it's become even more difficult with injuries to Bent & Agbonlahor, the latter is definitely fit for this one & Bent may well be as well but Emile Heskey is ruled out. Even if Bent does come back Villa are likely to set out with containment of Chelsea in mind & that could frustrate the Blues even with their creator extraordinaire Juan Mata on the pitch. Put simply Chelsea don't warrant being 1/3 favourites & although they are the likely winners those odds seem false & we'd much rather be a layer than a backer as Villa try to park the team bus, we suggest laying Chelsea at 1.32 & shorter.

Selections:
Walsall to beat Rochdale at 11/8 (Victor Chandler)
Middlesbrough to beat Peterborough at 3/4 (Boylesports)
The above double pays over 3/1
Lay Chelsea to beat Aston Villa at 1.32 & shorter