Wigan Athletic can avoid being the third team to be relegated. However, in order to do so – they must secure points in both of their remaining matches. Wigan are fresh off a shock FA Cup win and they face fifth place Arsenal on Tuesday. The Gunners have a match-in-hand over fourth place Tottenham Hotspur and they – much like Wigan, need all the points they can get.

In their upcoming match, Arsenal are heavily favoured to beat Wigan. Arsenal are on a quite remarkable run. They have not dropped a league match since 20 January when they lost to Chelsea by a 2-1 margin. The last time they dropped a league match at home was on 13 January, when they lost to Manchester City 2-nil.

When these two clubs played at the DW, it was Arsenal who were victorious – winning by a 1-nil margin. A Mickel Arteta strike from the penalty spot was all Arsenal needed to claim the win after Jean Beausejour fouled Theo Walcott in the box.

Wigan have claimed points in three of their last five away matches. They are quite used to making a late bid for survival in the top flight. As they are four points behind 17th place Sunderland and five behind Villa. Should Wigan lose at the Emirates, it is all over for the Latics in the top flight, as they will have sealed their fate in relegation.

However, if Wigan manage to grab a point or even a full three-point win against Arsenal, there is hope for yet another Wigan season in the English Premier League. Either scenario sets up a thrilling final week in the Premier League, as Wigan host sixteenth place Aston Villa where a win would save their season. Sunderland will have their hands full next weekend when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur.

Whilst a point at Arsenal will keep Wigan alive on paper, Sunderland’s goal differential is a good bit higher than Wigan’s. Thus, their best shot at survival is to play Arsenal for the win. Wigan are 8.00 to get the win in London against Arsenal. They do have an exciting young squad in Kone, McManaman, and Shawn Maloney. Ben Watson is also riding the wave after his huge goal in the FA Cup Final that handed the Cup to Wigan and sent Manchester City home empty handed.

Should these boys show up to play (and we believe they will), Wigan will complicate life for Arsene Wenger’s Gunners and they will make things quite uncomfortable at both the top and the bottom of the table.

If you are a believer in Wigan to close the season strong, you are better served betting on either Sunderland or a Benteke-less Villa to be relegated. Sunderland pay 21.00 for relegation, whilst Villa pay 34.00 if they are relegated this season. Wigan, on the other hands, are priced nearly dead cert at 1.02. The gambler in me likes Aston Villa to be relegated and Wigan to survive.

You can learn all about betting on Premier League football – including how to bet, where to bet, and what to bet from www.premierleaguebetting.net. This football-betting site provides extensive guides that explain every bet you can place and they look at the best bookmakers who take Premier League action. So whether you are a seasoned punter or new to football betting, you will not do yourself any type of disservice by paying them a visit today.

Prerequisite: It is imperative you first understand the information covered in my article on over/under betting which shows how to handicap the number of goals each team will score in a match. Pulling the exact example from that article there was an EPL match where I handicapped Southampton was expected to score 1.27 goals and Everton was to score 1.70 goals. I’ll use this to show the handicapping for several markets.

Handicapping Will Both Teams Score

For this we’re going to run the Poisson distribution on each team’s chance of scoring 0 goals. As a reminder from other articles, in Microsoft Excel we enter =POISSON(solve-for, expected, false) when solving for an exact score. So:

Everton: =POISSON(0, 1.7,false). Enter this in Excel, click tab, and see 18.27% of the time they score 0 goals which means 81.73% of the time they will score a goal.

Southampton: =POISSON(0, 1.27, false). Enter this in Excel, click tab, and see 28.08% of the time they score 0 goals which means 71.92% of the time they will score a goal.

The chance that both teams score is 0.8173*0.7192=58.78%. If you Google search for an odds converter that has an implied probability field, enter that and you’ll see that 58.78% in American odds is -143. Therefore the fair odds with no vig on will both teams to score is Yes -143 / No +143.

Now that you have the fair odds calculated, the final step is shopping multiple online sportsbooks ( see SBS Rating for all that are reputable) and betting yes at any offering better than -143 and betting no at any offering better than +143.

Will There be a Bore Draw?

For this we can use the same math calculated earlier. We know Everton will fail to score 18.27% of the time and Southampton will fail to score 28.08% of the time. The probability the game finishes a 0-0 tie is 0.1827*0.2808 which equals 5.13%. Again using an odds converter we can see in American odds this is a correct score of 0-0 at +1849.

Which Team Will Score First?

In most sports, the base formula for which team to score first is -100*(Favorite/Dog)=Favorite odds to score first in American Odds format. This would normally mean if we are expecting Everton to score 1.7 and Southampton 1.27 the math is -100*(1.7/1.27)=-133 as Everton’s no-vig odds of scoring the first goal. The problem here is this formula does not work for soccer as there are more ties in soccer than in other sports.

To adjust we first use the formula risk/return=implied-probability (which is a fancy term for break even percentage). -133 is risk $133 to win $100 the return is $233 ($133 stake + $100 win). Therefore the math is $133/$233=57.08% chance Everton scores first. This leaves a 42.92% chance that Southampton scores first. The problem is that just earlier we calculated there is a 5.13% chance neither team scores.

What we need to do is remove 57.08% of 5.13% from Everton’s chances. This is 0.5708-(0.5708*0.0513)=54.15% that Everton scores first. As we already know neither team scores 5.13% of the time, by process of elimination that leaves Southampton scoring first 40.72% of the time. If I place these into an odds converter I can see the fair no-vig prices on first score are Everton -118, Southampton +146 and No Score +1849.

A small tip is this method I just gave is short hand. It will be slightly off by mere fractions on 96% of the games you handicap. The direction it will be off is that it will slightly overstate the favorite’s chances (we’re talking by rounding error type fractions). If you were handicapping a game where the favorite was 60+% likely to score it will become off by a noticeable fraction, and you’ll need to find a larger edge when betting the favorite to score first.

Handicapping Correct Score

The math I just showed can be used to calculate any correct score. Let’s say we’re calculating the odds of correct score of Everton 2-1 and are still working with the predicted score of Everton 1.7 and Southampton 1.27. I’m going to just run a Poisson distribution for each.

Everton: =POISSON(2, 1.7, false). Enter this in Excel, click tab, and see there is a 26.4% chance Everton scores exactly 2 goals.

Southampton: =POISSON(1, 1.27, false). Enter this in Excel, click tab, and see there is a 35.67% chance Southampton scores exactly 1 goal.

The probability the exact score is Everton 2-1 is 0.264*0.3567=9.42%. An odds converter will show this +962 in American no-vig odds.

Important Disclaimer

Poisson distributions are not exact for the reason scoring is not an independent (totally random) occurrence. In games with no score the pace is slower. Once the first goal scores the pace increases. If an equalizer is scored it slows again. What most handicappers accept is that Poisson slightly over forecasts scores of 0-1 and 1-0 and slight under forecasts scores of 0-0 and 1-1. Depending which way you are betting you’ll need to either find a larger edge than Poisson reflects or can bet with a slight negative edge based on what Poisson predicts.

The fact Poisson is not entirely accurate does makes it difficult to use Poisson to calculate the chances of a draw. This is because Poisson over forecasts 0-0 and 1-1 which are the most common draws. If you’re an advanced handicapper this can be solved by learning about Bivariate Poisson which is a more accurate distribution model. Again, for all but advanced handicappers, standard Poisson remains the method most used. You just need to remember there is a slight over forecast of 0-1 and 1-0 scores and the slight under forecast of 0-0 and 1-1 scores.

Earlier in the week, the story was Arsenal’s big comeback against Reading in the Capital One League Cup, as Arsenal overcame a 4-0 deficit to win in overtime 7-5. Whilst such a comeback was impressive, it really begs the question of what they were doing in the first half to accumulate such a tab. Arsenal’s defence has been quite sound in the Premier League thus far and with a starting back four that included Carl Jenkinson and Laurent Koscielny – two players who featured for Arsenal to begin the season – they did not exactly field a makeshift back four. Koscielny featured in two big Arsenal matches in the top flight (against City and Chelsea), whilst Jenkinson started at left back for the first eight matches and looked quite competent whilst spelling Bacary Sagna who was injured to start the 2012-13 campaign.

Arsene Wenger cannot exactly call his squad “young” anymore – though he will surely try. The Theo Walcott’s, Aaron Ramsey’s, and Jack Wilshire’s of the world are all grown up. They have played for both club and country. They have played in big matches in Europe and domestically. Experience wise, they are anything but young.

Add to the mix that Arsenal went out and bought “fire power” designed to replace departing striker Robin Van Persie’s goal tally. The Gunners did not buy one replacement; they bought three in Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski, and Olivier Giroud in an effort to diversify their obviously lopsided attack from last season.

With a strong squad, it begs the question of what exactly is wrong with the Arsenal Gunners. For starters, Arsenal are having slight difficulty in finding the back of the net, despite ramping up their attacking options. The stats are a bit misleading (on paper), as the sixth place Gunners have scored fifteen top-flight goals this season. The real story, however, is that it took Arsenal two full games (and eleven minutes) to produce their first Premier League goal. Thankfully, it took them 2.5 games to concede their first goal. When they finally scored their first goal of the season, they put in six bombs against the team with the worst defensive record in the Premier League. Back out the six-goal performance, and Arsenal have scored nine goals, whilst conceding seven across nine games. This is not exactly an impressive record, nor does their threat of goal scare anyone.

In their last three Premier League matches, Arsenal have lost 2-1 away to Manchester United, defeated QPR at home 1-0 whilst looking anything but focused and inspired, and they looked equally as disinterested in losing to “sorry” Norwich City 1-0. The inability to handle Norwich, put away QPR, or even capitalize on mistake after mistake in Manchester United’s attempt to hand the game over to them suggests that someone on the Arsenal ship may need to consider sounding the “Abandon Ship” bells. To me, the ship is clearly sinking.

Mr. Wenger, you have an incredible midfield despite selling off captain after captain. The likes of Jack Wilshire, Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, and Mikel Arteta “should” be able to stabilize the midfield even whilst the talented likes of Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Abu Diaby, and Tomas Rosicky nurse injuries. Your midfield is far from depleted. Your striker options are deeper now than they have been in years. You should have no problem finding the back of the net early and often with Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski without having to resort to stalwart failures like Marouane Chamakh or that self-proclaimed number 9 Theo Walcott.

Moreover, your goalkeeper situation cannot be to blame. Sure, you are starting your third choice at keeper due to injury. We understand that the current keeper is not your first choice. However, with the likes of past goalkeepers – namely Manuel Almunia, Lucasz Fabianski, and dare I say David Seaman, whom I also admit was not your choice. I understand you inherited him, but when he was clearly “broke” you did little if anything to “fix” the situation. So clearly, with a line-up of these folks, you cannot blame your situation at the number 1 spot. You cannot even pretend to act like you care who plays in the net with some of the folks who have occupied the starting spot under your reign, for that matter.

With that in mind, who exactly is there left to blame, Mr. Wenger? To me, it looks as if the only people left in the room are you and the Board of Directors. In all honesty, you will have a difficult time in convincing me that you and you alone are not the lone person calling the shots – just like you had a hard time convincing me that a “top 4 finish” is the equivalent of winning a trophy. The Board serves one purpose – collect money with hands out while you satisfy your ego in refusing to buy “proven” English talent and try to value shop your way through the transfer market.

If you have any sense of dignity left in you, Mr. Wenger and if you have any respect for the tradition and future of your beloved Arsenal Gunners Football Club, you will tender your resignation immediately and allow this club to join the rest of the “big clubs” in operating on the pitch as opposed to on paper in financial reports.

If you agree with the opinion in this editorial that Arsene Wenger should be the next Premier League manager to leave his post, Bet Victor has Arsene Wenger as the next Premier League Manager to Leave His Post at 80 to 1 odds. You can read all about Bet Victor at bestbettingsites.org.uk. Alternatively, Paddy Power has an Arsenal special where you can punt on who will be the man to replace Wenger at Arsenal. Names on this extensive list include the likes of Pep Guardiola, Roberto Mancini, Didier Deschamps, Jose Mourinho, and my personal choice as the next logical candidate – Laurent Blanc.

England found themselves chasing the match after the 38th minute screamer from Ukraine striker Yevhen Konoplyanka, who found the back of the net by virtue of a Lescott mistake. Konoplyanka found his way inside of England defender Leighton Baines and hit a beautiful strike from distance, which found its way to the upper 90 beyond English keeper Joe Hart.

Prior to the Ukraine strike, England had and subsequently blew plenty of opportunities. Tom Cleverley ran free for most of the first half inside the box, but was unable to find his mark. English striker, Jermaine Defoe found the back of the net in the tenth minute. However, the goal was disallowed thanks to a foul on Defoe’s turn.

England emerged from the tunnels to start the second half at a deficit. Despite the urgency of the matter, England opened the second half anything but urgent. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was as generous as it gets in turning the ball over and he looked anything but amazing in the bulk of this match. Even more generous, however, was the nine cards handed out by the match official. The decisive soft red shown to England captain Steven Gerrard for an anxious tackle from behind assured Ukraine a draw, as it stripped a majority of the forward pushing energy England brought with their substitutes.

In the 69th minute, Hodgson called on young striker Daniel Sturridge who came on for the ineffective Ox. A few minutes later, fellow youngsters Danny Welbeck and Ryan Bertrand came on for Tom Cleverley and Leighton Baines. With the introduction of the youthful players, the match immediately changed. Welbeck was a threat right out of the gate and looked like a goal from the word “go”. He found the post a few short minutes after his introduction and drew the penalty, which led to a Frank Lampard goal from the spot. England looked like they would get a winner following the Lampard goal, as both Jermaine Defoe and Danny Welbeck looked deadly in the closing minutes. However, Steven Gerrard was shown the soft red, which dropped a bucket of ice on England’s relentless attack and killed aspirations of collecting on free bets on Defoe or Welbeck in being the winning goal scorer.

Despite playing a man down, England pushed on, looking for the match winner. However, they were unsuccessful in converting a second goal. The final whistle blew and England found themselves level with the visiting side. The 1-1 draw, combined with their mauling of Moldova to the tune of 5-0 place England atop the qualifying group with 4 points. England are tied for first in their group with Montenegro, who drew 2-2 with Poland and spanked San Marino 6-0. England next gather to face San Marino on 11 October and the bookmakers are sure to have England as a very likely and Low risk winner when the lines open for their next home match.

With the exception of the goalkeeper, UK or English football is played mostly with the feet. Sure, you can use other parts of the body. However, the feet are the primary weapon of the UK football player. In the American version of “football”, the hands are used far more prominently than the feet are. How does this even make sense that this sport is even called football when there is another sport played that is more “football” than your football game is?

I guess I can live with English Football being called soccer in the US. If I can live with this, I can even live with you calling that pigskin gridiron game “football” as well. What really puzzles me though is why some of my favourite UK sites give in to this American trend. To me, if you are American, call UK football soccer, and call American football what you call it. If you are English, then it is referred to properly. Unfortunately, such seemingly logical things are not always the case. For example, look at the English bookmaking site Bet365. They are definitely an English site. The owners of the online bookmaker also own the Stoke City Football Club. Yet, on their own website – they list American Football for the NFL games or NCAA games. They also call our beloved sport “soccer”. They do not even accept American customers, yet their site is very American friendly in terms of the categories of available bets. If the betting site is American facing, then I expect such a thing. However, unless I am visiting American facing online NFL betting sites like Bovada, I fully expect my beloved sport to be Football and not soccer.

Bet365 really needs to change their menu to reflect the proper names of their sports markets. If I am punting at Bovada, I do not mind seeing my sport as soccer and the NFL listed as Football. However, if I am at an English online betting site, I expect soccer to be called football just like their Irish counterpart Paddy Power does.

All semantics aside, I do see the appeal of both sports. I grew up watching and playing “soccer”, as did most of my mates. In the US, I understand more people play and watch their gridiron football than they do “soccer”. In complete fairness, the NFL is more of a “made for TV” sport, as there is far more scoring than in soccer, which appeals to the person who thinks a high score line means more action. Personally, I am ecstatic with many 1-nil score lines. I suspect only a select few would be happy watching sixty full minutes of a 3-0 NFL game.

I have heard many NFL fans complain about “soccer” being too long of a game. In fairness, there are two forty-five minute halves with a pause at halftime. However, my game has a running clock. We do have what is called injury time, but from start to finish, the match is off the air in less than two hours. If the match begins with a 15.00 kickoff, it is over before 17.00. By comparison, if an NFL Football game is slated for a 1pm kickoff, it “might” be over before the 4pm games start. I’m sorry, whose game is longer? Is it your version with four 15 minute quarters or mine that runs 90 minutes?

In closing, I guess we can simply agree to disagree. For you, it is soccer. For me, it is football. If your sport comes over here to play as they do once a year, don’t be surprised when we cheer the loudest for the punter and field goal kicker, as they are the closest thing to a true “footballer” that your game has.

At the time of this writing, RVP sits alongside Michu with four goals. Rooney has a great head of hair, thanks to his implants, but his fitness was clearly lacking before taking the gash that has him sidelined for up to a month. He is expected to return in time for the 23 September fixture that finds United travelling to struggling Liverpool. The only top flight matches between now and then is home to Wigan, which gives RVP an extra game to increase his lead in total goals. Whilst Van Persie has a sizable lead, which he will surely build upon against Wigan – Wayne Rooney cannot only catch his fellow teammate; he can pass him.

Wayne Rooney has averaged thirty-one league appearances for Manchester United over the last four seasons. By comparison, Robin Van Persie featured in an average of 26.75 league matches per campaign. Fitness has more so been an issue for RVP than for Wayne Rooney. Van Persie managed to amass 68 goals during the past four years, whilst Rooney found the net 78 times. If history is any indicator, it makes sense that Rooney will be fit for more matches than RVP will be.

In addition to fitness, Wayne Rooney is used to finding the back of the net even if he is not the “main man” at United. Remember, he managed to find the goal numerous times despite lining up alongside goal scoring threats like Cristiano Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov. Neither Ronaldo nor Berbatov were exactly the most unselfish of players and yet, Rooney found the goal when playing alongside them. That is not to say that Rooney is selfish by any means either. He creates opportunities, takes chances, but will distribute unselfishly when the situation calls for it.

Aside from playing with Henry early on in his career, RVP has never played with such a goal scoring threat. When the two of them line up together, rest assured, they will in fact look to find one another and both will take liberties on goal, as well as set each other up. However, when it comes crunch time, the likes of Paul Scholes, Ashley Young, and Antonio Valencia are simply accustomed to looking for number 10. Given equal chance, Rooney is more likely to get the final ball than Van Persie is just for the sake of familiarity.

My belief is that Rooney will regain his fitness faster than his head magically appeared full of hair and he will begin giving his team mate a run for his money. Collectively, the two will push one another for the golden boot. RVP may have a head start, but old Wazoo is sure to come steamrolling back onto the tops of the charts.

All the major soccer betting sites provide lines for top goal scorer of the Premier League. If you like Wayne Rooney to capture this season’s golden boot, we suggest placing your bet at Paddy Power, as their books list Wayne Rooney at 20/1 to capture the top goal scorer’s honours of the top flight.

The latest rumour mills put Sir Alex Ferguson as favourite to be parading a Dutchman in the next couple of weeks, although the 6/5 with BetFair for him to stay are Arsenal suggests that is not impossible, especially with the new signings the club has made in recent weeks. Santi Cazorla is almost certain to come in from Malaga, and Real Madrid midfield Nuri Sahin has been linked with a loan move to the Emirates too, if they can beat Manchester United to that signing.

Speaking of Sir Alex, he has been linked for the past couple of years with a move for Leighton Baines of Everton, and this may be the summer that goes through despite some humorous advice from Steven Pienaar that Baines should stay loyal to Everton. VictorChandler as 1/2 on United being the full-back’s club after the transfer window, and with the loss of form suffered by Patrice Evra last term that may well be a big move for United.

Ferguson has also spoken on of need to find a long-term replacement for Paul Scholes, but his preferred target is Luka Modric, and the Spurs midfielder is now 1/6 with SkyBet to complete a big-money move to Real Madrid. That in turn could see Tottenham make a club-record bid for Joao Moutinho, which would represent a significant coup, although an alternative could be Alan Dzagoev, a 3/1 shot with VictorChandler. Another huge move that could happen, but nobody was really expecting at the start of the year, is the return of Kaka to Milan from Real Madrid.

A number of factors have combined to prevent the Brazilian from shining in Spain, and the news that he has a degenerative condition in his groin that will curtail his career probably makes the idea of a return to the Milan Lab appealing too. SkyBet now make AC Milan 4/7 to be the club Kaka is at next term, and we know they’ve got a bit of money to spend after the sales of Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva, which also freed up a large chunk of the wage budget.

There has been continual speculation that some of that cash may be waved in the direction of Manchester City, but oddly enough City are the one team really struggling to make anything happen so far. With the manager admitting he’d fallen behind his rivals in the race for RVP, and the sale Adebayor to Spurs having slowed to a standstill Mancini may be getting a bit nervous. SkyBet have linked his team with a £20m move for Liverpool defender Daniel Agger, at 6/4, and Daniele De Rossi is a 7/4 shot with VictorChandler to end up at the Etihad, but both moves are only in their infancy yet.

Other points of interest include the start of the Scottish season, with possibly the two most absolutely nailed-on titles in recent memory likely to be won. Celtic start the year with very little idea of who could be the challengers this year, and Rangers play in the third division of the game after a scandal that seems more suited to the Italian game. Both sides should win at a canter, but hopefully we can look forward to a more competitive Premiership than SPL, if not more competitive than last season.

One of the more controversial and potentially interesting moves will be that of Joey Barton, if indeed the man with no class does end up leaving his £80k-a-week deal at QPR to try and protect the remaining tatters of his reputation. Currently he is training with Fleetwood in an attempt to get fit and potentially get his ban over with all the more quickly, although of course Barton tried to make the decision into a pop at the Premiership. He’s 12/1 to still be at QPR next term with VictorChandler, and the same price to go to Blackpool, but I think it is more likely he will spend the rest of his career in the Championship or lower after some woeful football preceded his idiotic actions against Manchester City.

Speaking of the champions, the manager has been fairly vocal about the lack of movement into the club so far.  Admittedly he hasn’t really managed to offload any players yet, with Adebayor’s transfer to Spurs still stalling and Milan yet to throw some cash their way in the cause of signing either Dzeko or Tevez, and as a result the press are now suggesting his side may have fallen behind the likes of Manchester United in the race to sign Robin Van Persie. It was reported that Juventus has ended their interest in the Dutchman after balking at the price quoted, which could see a move for Edinson Cavani from the Old Lady of Turin, but there is a chance this is simply a negotiating ploy from the Italians.

One of the more interesting moves could be that of American-born Italy star Guiseppe Rossi, who is currently at relegated Villarreal in Spain but could be available for as little as £8m. Tottenham were repeatedly linked with the forward when Harry Redknapp was at White Hart Lane, and SkyBet make them 4/1 second-favourites to get him, after Juventus at 3/1. Whoever can sign Rossi will have done a fantastic bit of business if they can get it done at that price, injuries or not, and Twitter is certainly full of impatient supporters urging their own teams to have a look at the diminutive star before his is snapped up again.

Other players taking a step toward resolving their future include the Wigan forward Victor Moses, who will sit down with the management at some point in the next few days to decide his future. With interest from Liverpool and Chelsea reported and one year remaining on his contract Moses could well be off. Likewise Fulham forward Moussa Dembele, as 4/6 shot with VictorChandler to join Manchester United could be moving this summer, with rumours the manager would try to sign Andy Carroll as replacement. I think we’ll see the money fly over the next few weeks, so you’d better brace yourself for a flurry of pre-season activity.

Unlike the men’s event, Olympic football on the female side has no age restrictions, so the teams that started playing a full two days before the ceremony are as good as any you can see in the women’s game. For this reason the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) have a lot of work on their hands, or rather at their feet if they are to three-peat, and hold the title they won in Greece and defended in Beijing.

With two games play three teams are already safely into the last eight with six points, and they are Brazil, the USWNT and Great Britain, who have taken advantage of some great home crowds to demonstrate what huge strides the England team has made under hope Powell. The US were able to gain a convincing 3-0 win over Colombia in their second game after beating the French 4-2 in a thrilling opening match, and seem to be firing on nearly all cylinders at this stage, but with Marta and Brazil moving ominously into the quarters and playing some fantastic stuff, there is a long way to go yet.

The US could face Canada en route to the final, if they make it that far, and with two third-placed teams being added to the quarter-final draw it really seems that taking part is more important than winning, which makes for a fairly gruelling schedule for the players. Despite this, and the fact the squad is only made up of eighteen players rather than twenty-three, Pia Sundhage must be fairly confident about her options given that she can call on six players with more than 100 international caps, and Christine Rampone, the USWNT captain, has over 260. At the time of they are 13/8 favourites to win the competition with the folk over at PaddyPower, and won’t want anything to distract them from doing so.

It could be tough, though, and the standard is markedly higher than it was ten years or so ago (when opponents would have had about as much luck trying to beat the casino using roulette systems) as Hope Solo so helpfully pointed out to a pundit and former player that had earned her ire this week, via Twitter of course. The chief obstacle in the way of a fourth American gold in this event is Brazil, who Paddy Power make 16/5 second favourites overall, and 1/100 for a medal of any colour with BetFair (who oddly think the US are 7/50 for a top three finish). If Brazil or the USWNT don’t bring home the gold I suspect they will both view that as a bit of a failure, especially given that Germany are not at this tournament, removing one of the massive barriers in their way over recent years.

Those two look to be out on their own in terms of the gold, but Brazil take on Great Britain in their final group match and the hosts could spring an upset, although that is fairly unlikely. Team GB are 17/2 outsiders for the gold with SkyBet, and 29/100 to win their group, while Brazil are on at 1/100 to do the same, both with BetFair. Five-time World Player of the Year looks a good bet for top goalscorer at 3/1 with Ladbrokes, and if she plays against the British ladies they’ll have to play the match of their lives to contain the skill and technique the Brazil captain possesses. This could be a fascinating tournament.

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