The only remaining fixture that could be classed as dodgy for England would be the Bulgaria game in Sofia. The other two teams in this group are good enough to take points off these teams even though Wales do not have a manager as they and John Toshack are certain to part company soon.

I really hope that Fabio Capello learns the lessons from the World Cup and I think he will. I know some people have slated him as being money grabbing but I don’t think so. He is Italian and so he will be a very proud man and he will not want to leave the England job with his name rubbished. He will see the 2012 Euros as being the perfect chance to put right what went wrong in South Africa. Switzerland away from home is a difficult fixture and so I am pleased with the result and the Germany game just seems a little further back this morning with us sitting top of the group with 6 points.

The price is deemed to be accurate at that stage with a couple of percentage points. But this generic piece of “wisdom” is a long way from the mark because information from whatever source causes odds to shift. Usually there is a source for an odds shift and the betting firms tend to keep a very close eye on what everyone else is doing. This is to basically protect their own liabilities. If a certain firm is pricing 5/1 for a certain competitor when their true price and the price of everyone else is 2/1 then this firm is going to be taking an awful lot of action that they may not necessarily want.

So prices are pretty much in trim with each other from firm to firm and this is especially the case with the shorter priced runners. Usually it is professional odds compilers that form the basis for odds that are present in the market at a core level. Certain companies have odds compilers that are very strong in certain areas and once this becomes known then other companies often follow them. If you can find out who these companies are and how accurate they are and in what markets then you can base a good betting strategy around that.

Already there are warning signs for Andy Murray never winning a slam event after being knocked out in the 4th round of the US Open. While being 23 years of age leaves plenty of time on his side, I really don’t think that he would be able to win one at 28 years of age. Most of the major players won their first slam by the time they were 23 years of age. Murray has a habit of being defensive at the wrong times.

He seems to go into his shell during the latter stages of slams and this is going to be difficult to correct. Then when he does try to correct it he then becomes reckless and doesn’t seem to find the right balance. Personally I think he has 4 years left to effectively win a slam as the longer he goes on then it will get tougher mentally. That is only 16 tournaments in my mind and if you take away the ones where he is not fit either physically or mentally then that doesn’t leave an awful lot left.

Bulgaria came very close to making it 1-1 before England made it 2-0 shortly after. I think that England will qualify comfortably in this group and that could be basically cemented if they win in Switzerland on Tuesday. In a group which only has five teams then England’s two biggest obstacles are Switzerland and Bulgaria and to beat them both in the opening games would almost see England through with only the away fixture in Sofia as being the only potential blip.

Although after England’s World Cup debacle then you can hardly take anything for granted! But if we cannot learn from the colossal mistakes that were made in South Africa then we want our heads examining. Capello is a great coach and a very clever man, but he knows that he made big errors during the World Cup and hopefully they will be corrected and see us moving on and having a good qualification campaign along with a good tournament in 2012. As good as Paul Scholes is, he is certainly not the future at 35 years of age and neither is David Beckham.

Scholes will be 37 come the Euro’s and 39 by the next World Cup so why use him? That would be nothing but another short term fix and in my mind a selfish one designed to protect the reputation of a manager who cannot afford any more slip ups.

But questions will be asked if they can match the performance levels under new coach Rafa Benitez that they attained under Jose Mourinho. Werder Bremen will also provide another stiff test as will Dutch champions FC Twente. My gut reaction is that Inter will win the group with Tottenham coming second.

Even though Valencia will be a weakened team this year then I do not see them not qualifying from Group C along with Manchester United. I just do not see Rangers and Bursaspor coming ahead of these two teams over six games even though Rangers versus United will provide massive interest.

I also expect Arsenal to top group H even though they have a couple of tricky ties. Chelsea also have a couple of potential banana skins in Spartak Moscow and Marseille. Chelsea have also picked up some key injuries as well during the early part of the season but I would be very surprised not to see them qualify. So for me then Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea will all make the knock-out stages and even though I expect Tottenham to do so, I cannot say that with any great degree of confidence.

The riders that I recall watching during those early years were people like Miguel Indurain, Sean Kelly, Robert Millar, Greg Lemond and Laurent Fignon. So to hear that Laurent Fignon, the two time winner of the Tour de France had died at the relatively young age of only 50 then I was shocked and saddened. It also is a first class example of just how fragile life is. When you look at professional cycling then you are probably looking at some of the fittest people in sport.

But supreme fitness does not carry any weight when it comes to diseases like Cancer which was what struck Fignon down after his long bout of chemotherapy. I would like to send my condolences to his family and even though I never knew Laurent Fignon personally I think that I can speak for millions of people worldwide when I say that he brought immense pleasure and excitement to my life for several weeks in the summer. Even though I knew nothing about cycling, I started watching professional cycling and Laurent Fignon was a major reason for that.

When you look at players like Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Padraig Harrington probably all requiring wild cards then it is clear just how tough the process is going to be. I think that the USA team basically picks itself but what will be interesting will be to see how Corey Pavin reacts to all of the adverse publicity surrounding what is supposed to be an “automatic” pick of Tiger Woods.

Personally I do not know which is the best way to go with regards Tiger Woods? If you cannot pick him on merit based on form then do you pick him purely for the effect that it would have on team morale? Or would you deem it to be a wasted selection if Woods is not performing well enough?

We are only just over a month away from the start of the Ryder Cup so the chances to impress the two captains are going to be at a premium. The Johnny Walker event at Gleneagles this weekend should give Monty some more information but then again it could easily make things just as confusing for him.

Sometimes of course a competitor can become favourite by default and this can be caused by the betting public losing faith with the original favourite. So it is always a good policy with any sports betting and horse racing is a great example to try and find negatives as to why a particular favourite will not win. Usually if you look hard enough then you can spot them and especially with horse racing because there are so many races on any one day.

For instance if you see a horse that has had a lengthy lay off and that may be coupled with maybe running on a certain type of going for the first time then this could be a factor for this horse getting beaten. This is especially the case where there are strong cases for the second or third favourite stepping in and winning the race. Usually in competitive races then a particular favourite can be vulnerable and often gets beaten due to it having several negatives against it.

All of these players are quality players but Stephen Ireland and Craig Bellamy have been moved out with Bellamy going out on a season’s loan to Championship side Cardiff City. The big question of course after all of this spending will be can Roberto Mancini turn that into a winning formula and bring a top four finish? Some people are touting the light blues as possible title challengers and they could be dark horses this season.

But to win the title this season then they have to hit the ground running and do that very quickly. Saturday’s 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane against Tottenham was encouraging but City were on the back foot for long periods of that game and keeper Joe Hart was man of the match which sort of told its own story. At the end of the day, Chelsea and Manchester United are settled sides which I think will make the difference.

I think that realistically, City will need a season to settle down but do not write them off as top four material as I think that they will do that this season. But I also feel that it will be the 2010-2011 season that sees them have a serious tilt at the title. I think it is only a matter of time before City win the league but the Chelsea and Manchester United teams look past their best of a few years ago so do not rule City out this season.

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It certainly has less appeal than the other three majors that’s for sure. But there has now been three consecutive majors without an American winner and that rarely happens when you consider how heavily weighted the US majors are with American players.

What was revealed though yesterday was that Tiger Woods failed to qualify for the US Ryder Cup team and is now relying on a wild card pick from Corey Pavin. I think European Golf is at a very strong point now and with two European winners of majors this season then that just underlines it even more.

With people like Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell coming to the fore then Europe have some big experience in there along with people like Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey. I really fancy Europe’s chances at Celtic Manor and will be watching the entire event as it unfolds.

After getting soundly beaten in 2008 when Nick Faldo was captain then I think that Europe will be thirsty for revenge and I expect them to win it by a score of something like 15.5-12.5.

But once again, well done to Martin Kaymer and many top players in the world will be looking enviously at his major win this morning even if it was won in slightly controversial style but that will not bother Kaymer.