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It’s been said before and it’s being said again now. Waiting Patiently could not be more appropriately named. He was trained by Malcolm Jefferson, the quiet, genial Cumbrian who learned old school techniques and good habits from Gordon Richards before setting up on his own across the Pennines in Yorkshire, from where he sent out […]

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been dealt a squad selection headache just days after assuming his position as caretaker manager. First-choice striker Romelu Lukaku has been given a leave of absence on compassionate grounds which will see him miss Solskjaer’s first few games in charge, according to reports. It’s not just the Norwegian who will be […]

Football It would be easier to say when football isn’t on television over the festive period. Between now and New Year’s Day, there are 16 Premier League matches live on television. And if that is not enough, there are five Championship games. There’s a Sky Sports triple-header on Boxing Day. And if you are still […]

Boxing Day is a time for leftover turkey, sales at the shops and wild football matches. The wacky round of post-Christmas fixtures in 1963 has gone down in legend, with the division’s 20 teams sharing an astonishing 66 goals – a ludicrous tally which led to much questioning about just how many pigs in blankets […]

The festive period usually marks the halfway point of the season, which makes it an ideal time to take stock. These three teams were all sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League after the traditional round of Boxing Day fixtures, before things went badly wrong in the second half of the campaign… Newcastle […]

Kempton – 1.20 Dell Oro I like the way the imposing son of Walk in The Park has been campaigned, with connections opting to go chasing before the handicapper has really got his measure. He ran an excellent race here over hurdles on his final start and probably improved on that when chasing home the […]

Daklondike and Eden Du Houx I was really pleased with Daklondike winning the Tommy Whittle. David’s horses are running very well. It was a good couple of days for Caroline Tisdall as we won the Listed Bumper too at Ascot. Daklondike is an enigma but he was on his best behaviour on Saturday. It was […]

  3.05 Kempton – The King George Chase  – Thistlecrack and Native River Thistlecrack We are really pleased with Thistlecrack, in fact we couldn’t be happier with him. He’s doing work like he did two years ago, and is better than ever at home. He schooled well on Wednesday with Tom Scudamore. We now just […]

Odds and review of the NBA action The NBA world was dominated by trade talk last week as each team begins to get a feel for where they need to make additions. Toronto Raptors still lead the way in the East, but did lose three of their five games last week. Denver Nuggets are one […]

The growing rivalry between Exeter Chiefs and Saracens at the pinnacle of the English club game ratcheted up a significant notch with Exeter’s 31-13 win at Sandy Park that shattered Sarries’ eight-month unbeaten run on Saturday. “Uncharateristically, Saracens cracked a few times,” said Rob Baxter, the Exeter director of rugby, who had drummed into his […]

Bumper crowds do not always coincide with brilliant rugby matches. The Coventry multitude of 31,626 were consigned to a bitty mess of breakdown and scrum penalties, not that Bath will care too much as their fly-half Freddie Burns steered them through the holiday traffic with a man-of-the-match performance of personal redemption. Burns suffered a much-publicised […]

‘Twas the game before Christmas, and the goals were non-stop, with Spurs beating Everton, to close in on the top. Everyone involved with Tottenham Hotspur was left with a warm feeling going into Christmas as they closed within two points of Manchester City, and six off Liverpool in a what was is their hardest fixture […]

Fulham will return to Craven Cottage in search of a win after a run of five games without, Claudio Ranieri‘s only three points coming from his first match in charge, against Southampton. The Boxing Day visitors, Wolves, will hope to similarly return to winning ways, after their three on the bounce streak was broken by […]

Football’s Christmas period is, like the World Cup and European Championship, a law unto itself. The concentration of a huge number of games into a short space of time means bizarre things will happen on the pitch, like Cuco Martina scoring one of the goals of the season or Stoke – Stoke! – being involved […]

Welcome to the BetBright STATZONE, where we give you the stats and you make the decisions! It’s ‘Week 20’ in the Premier League as we head into another full round of fixtures this 26th (Boxing Day) and 27th of December. We get going at 12:30pm with newly-promoted pair of Fulham hosting Wolves – and with […]