Over the course of the current 2020/21 Premier League season, there have been plenty of cases of players testing positive for COVID-19. Despite the protection of protocols that have been put in place to insulate players and staff at the 20 Premier League clubs, modern football heroes such as Kyle Walker, Gabriel Jesus and Ederson at Manchester City have all contracted the virus.

In the last seven days, positive cases in the Premier League have doubled, and with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnston instigating a third national lockdown, should elite football such as the Premier League go ahead?

West Bromwich Albion manager Sam Allardyce thinks that a two-week ‘circuit breaker’ period where Premier League football stops is the solution. 

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Some sports are born for the television. In football, that applies to clubs too. But when should the light be shone on a football team? In their darkest hour, such as the Netflix documentary Sunderland Til I Die, or in their moment of glory, like the Amazon Prime series Manchester City: All or Nothing? 

In the 2000 documentary, Manchester United: Beyond the Promised Land, the cameras go behind the scenes at Old Trafford, Carrington and even the plains of Brazil as the world’s biggest football club at the time moves into a new future having just won a prize – or rather three prizes – that have not been gathered in the same season before or since by an English side.  

In the 1998/99 season, Manchester United won the English Premier League, F.A. Cup and UEFA Champions League. Not only has no other team done exactly that in football history, no-one has come close. In that respect, this documentary which follows the action in the following season of 1999/2000, everything was set up for United to fail. Any team would find it virtually impossible to achieve the same level of success, but United lost one of their key players in the months between that treble victory and kicking off the new season – Peter Schmeichel.  

With pressures of the FIFA Club World Cup added into the mix, it was a season unlike any other, with United failing to take place in the F.A. Cup for that reason. That caused a deal of controversy at the time, but the documentary frustratingly swerves the debate for completion of including the footage of United in Brazil. While the Red Devils would eventually miss out on the latter stages, losing to Vasco da Gama to crash out at the group stage, the hullabaloo about United pulling out of the F.A. Cup as arguably a storm they didn’t need and it affected the rest of the season.  

Great sports movies require a few critical elements to be present. They need some bona fide celebrities, someone who can play the sport in question and – possibly most ideally – a brilliant script. 1981’s Escape to Victory arguably has all three in place… but does that make it a great movie?

The film’s title reflects how much the plot owes to The Great Escape, which was released in 1963 and is about prisoners of war escaping from the Germans’ clutches. In Escape to Victory, the Allied prisoners of war attempt to escape the Germans’ clutches when… hang on, that’s exactly the same idea.

The crucial difference, of course, is football. The Allies don’t go for the same escape route that was blundered by Steve McQueen et al. Instead, they centre their attempts (or perhaps centre-half might be more appropriate) on an escape during a football match. Organised from a rabble into a rousing football team, the squad rely on the coaching and captaincy of two army Captains, Hatch and Colby, who are played by Sly Stallone and Michael Caine respectively.

With the Allied team due to escape the PoW camp at half-time in the game that has been arranged against their German captors, when half-time arrives they are unjustly 4-1 down. Quite against logic, they decide to play on during the second half (“But we can win this!”) and go on the attack in order to try to win the game.

The Test Series between Australia and India is evenly poised after India claimed an eight wicket win over the home side in Melbourne. The two sides head to Sydney with the series tied at one Test apiece.

India will feel that they have Australia’s measure, and the stats don’t lie; no Australian batsman passed 50 in Melbourne, the last time that happened was against the West Indies, in  the 1988/89 season.

Australia’s batsmen have been exposed by a fired-up Indian bowling attack over the first two Test matches. No Australian batsman has made a century against India over the last two series played in Australia. Tim Paine’s innings of 74 in Adelaide, remains the top score for the Aussies so far in the series.

Indian stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane led from the front in the absence of Virat Kohli. Rahane’s innings of 112, was his second century in consecutive appearances in Melbourne. Expect Rahane again to be amongst the runs in the spin-friendly conditions of the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

New Year’s Day is the signature day of college football’s bowl season, and there are four games on the holiday to kick off 2021, including the two College Football Playoff semifinals.

The first game at noon ET is the Peach Bowl from Atlanta as No. 9 Georgia visits No. 8 Cincinnati. The unbeaten and American Athletic Conference champion Bearcats seem to have gotten the shaft from the College Football Playoff selection committee as they were dominant this season, especially on defense (16.0 ppg allowed) but were penalized for playing a relatively week schedule. Frankly, if this year’s Cincinnati team didn’t make the playoff, no Group of 5 school ever will unless it expands.

A two-loss season and a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl would be great for many programs but not for Georgia, which had national championship expectations. However, the Dawgs lost by double digits to both Alabama and Florida. Georgia is a 7-point favorite and is 14-1 straight up in its past 15 as a favorite.

Christmas may be a time for rest to many people but for footballers it’s one of the most intensive periods of the whole year. With fixtures crammed in like pigs in blankets over yuletide.

With matches at the top and bottom of the League, who’ll get three vital points to take their team into the New Year with hope for a bright second half of the season?

Chelsea vs. Aston Villa (Monday, 5.30pm GMT kick-off)

A crucial match for the home side, this could be a pivotal game in the managerial career of Frank Lampard too. Villa come into the game in terrific form, which is the complete opposite of a Chelsea side who have lost three in four Premier League games. With defeats to Everton, Wolves and Arsenal, The Blues are in a rotten run of form, and desperately need a win to put themselves back in charge of their own destiny when it comes to qualifying for the Champions League. The title looks out of reach.

Last week, we spoke to The Secret Coach about the bottom half of the Premier League and how each of the 10 teams that occupy the lower half positions are struggling.

This week, it’s the turn of those lucky ten teams who sit in the upper echelons of the English Premier League.

The Secret Coach is a professional football coach in English football… who will remain anonymous. The Secret Coach has worked with some of the biggest names in the game, been through the coaching badges and is currently part of the coaching team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. As ever, this week, The Secret Coach pulls no punches!

Who is doing well and why? Let’s delve into The Secret Coach’s half-term report, with some A-grade action along the way.

The quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup take place over the next couple of days and with a couple of Championship sides aiming to shock the established Premier League forces, we’ll know who make the semi-finals by the end of Wednesday evening in the United Kingdom.  

Where is the sportsbetting value in the games ahead, however? Let’s take a look at each side’s chances and find some decent value bets to go for.  

Brentford vs. Newcastle United (5.30 GMT kick-off)  

The first game to take place will light up the Brentford Community Stadium as twilight descends in West London. Brentford host Newcastle United and far from it being a shock prediction that The Bees will win, bookies are buzzing about their chances, to the extent that the Championship side are favourites.  

Australia head into the Second Test in Melbourne, as favourites to go 2-0 up in the four Test series. India will struggle to recover from their loss in Adelaide and their captain Virat Kohli is set to return home for the remainder of the series.

After being in control of the match, India were woeful in their second innings to be bowled out for a record low of 36; their lowest total in 60 years of Test cricket, surpassing the 42 they made against England at Lords in 1974.

India are expected to make several changes to their side for the Second Test in Melbourne. Mohammad Shami will miss the remainder of the series, after fracturing his arm in Adelaide. KL Rahul is expected to replace Prithvi Shaw at the top of the order, with Rohit Sharma not available until the 3rd Test.

Shubman Gill is expected to get the nod for Kohli’s number four slot, while Mohammed Siraj is tipped to come in for Shami. Siraj had an excellent warm-up game in the lead-up to the First Test, and his pace and bounce suit the MCG wicket.