Rooney fires United into first

Soccer Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wayne Rooney scored two more goals to increase his Premier League-leading total to 25 and Manchester United defeated Fulham 3-0 on Sunday at Old Trafford to reclaim first place.

Arsenal and Chelsea passed United with wins on Saturday, but Rooney scored one minute after halftime and added his 32 in all competitions in the 84th.

Dimitar Berbatov, who assisted on Rooney's second goal, added his 10th Premier League goal in the 89th to seal United's 21st win of the season.

"The start to the second half was crucial and we got a good one to put us in a good position. After that our confidence grew," United coach Sir Alex Ferguson told MUTV.

Rooney handed United the lead less than one minute into the second half after a great give-and-go with Nani. Rooney had the ball in the middle and passed to the left to Nani, who threaded a pass through four Fulham players to get the ball back to Rooney for an easy finish to the bottom right.

Berbatov set up the second goal after he drove into the area from the right to slip a pass through three Fulham players to Rooney, who slotted to the left to beat Mark Schwarzer for the second time.

"The second was the star goal really," Ferguson said. "The work by Berbatov was fantastic football and he just laid it on a plate for Wayne, who took it well."

Substitute Ji-Sung Park delivered a cross to Berbatov in the 89th, and he dove to head the ball inside the right post from five yards for the third goal.

Fulham lost for just the second time in its last seven matches, but still sits in the top half of the standings in 10th. American Clint Dempsey, who returned in Thursday's Europa League match, made his first start since suffering a knee injury earlier this year.

Adam Johnson scored in the 91st minute as Manchester City escaped the Stadium of Light with a 1-1 draw against Sunderland.

Johnson latched onto a corner kick on the far side of the area in injury time, and lofted a perfect shot into the upper-left corner.

Kenwyne Jones scored in the ninth minute for Sunderland, and Craig Gordon made seven saves before Johnson left him no chance in the final seconds.

City is in fifth place, two points behind Tottenham for fourth and a berth in the Champions League. Sunderland is seven points clear of relegation in 14th.

Waskjeeves Soccer Betting News

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An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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