Nadal is worth a look

Possibly the worst week-end of selections since I started this blog with 4 of the 9 recommendations biting the dust. In football, Arsenal, Madrid, Bayern and Man City won, but Barcelona failed to beat Sociedad in a farcical second-half and Dortmund were stunned at home to Hertha. Fulham drew at home against Blackburn for a void punt. Blue Bunting and Fame and Glory were disappointing in their St Leger races and it looks that they deserve a good rest after a long season.

It was business as usual in the Premier League where the Manchester teams are setting up a torrid pace at the back. Rooney and Aguero are arguably the best 2 strikers in the world at the moment and each bagged a hat-trick. Arsenal beat Swansea by the minimum of margins as they work on integrating the new players that have come during the transfer deadline. Chelsea won as well but one cannot help but feel it's not all harmony among the players. Torres is making the headlines for the wrong reasons again today as the club is publicly acknowledging that an internal investigation is under-way to verify his non-flattering comments about his "old" and "slow" team-mates in a Spanish interview. Quite unprecedented really! Usually, it's a "we do not comment" statement that emanates from clubs in such circumstances, and this openness in singling out the player means that the failed Spaniard striker is quite in trouble.

In Spain, it's first blood to Real Madrid as they take 2 precious points ahead of Barcelona during week 2. The dropped points might come back to haunt the Blaugrana at the end. The season is a long, but I sense that Madrid are the hungrier team among the two. It's hard to see Mourinho's men losing points against second-tier teams like Barcelona on Saturday. The fact that they have the lead will certainly steer them in good stead mentally as well.

In a few hours will be the US Open final between Djokovic and Nadal. I cannot help but feel that Nadal will find a way to win this. Sure he's been beaten by the Serb so many times this year. Clearly, these are the 2 best players in the world. The fact that Nole faced 2 match points against the regressive Federer seems to signal that he can be made vulnerable by the stronger Spaniard. Djokovic is the deserving favourite because of what he's achieved throughout the year, but Nadal looks great value at 1.5/1. To value punters, I recommend him. No guarantees, but with Nadal, you very rarely can go wrong.