Many Gooners have been complaining at Arsenal holding back too much at the Nou Camp, so let’s hope we change things up a bit and get some momentum going against United. By now we should all have at least £195 in our Betfair accounts. Any new joiners to the scheme not only saw us knocked out the Champions League but also lost £5. Whilst we can’t make up for the former, the latter will soon be turned into a profit. Despite the loss, our form is still better than Man Utd’s of late so there’s no reason why we can’t go to Old Trafford and get something out of the game. Personally I think we could get a win and earn a place in the semis so just like Arsenal should, we’re going to go for it this time round as well.

So at Victor Chandler open up “Football” then “ENG FA Cup” and click the “+38” by the Man Utd v Arsenal game (this might increase to 39 or 40 as they add more markets) and select “All Bets”. It never seems to save decimal settings so as before make sure you click the top right of the screen saying “fractions” and change it over. Scroll down to the score markets and you’ll see Arsenal are at odds 12 to beat Man Utd 2-1. Click the “12.000” and open up the bet slip. Type in a stake of 25 and be sure to select “use promo cash” before placing the bet. This will win £275. Make sure you click the ‘Place bets now’ box at the bottom of your betslip to ensure your bet is confirmed.

At Betfair select “Football”, “English Football” and then “FA Cup”. By the Man Utd v Arsenal game select “View Full Market”. Under correct score click on the pink “lay” button for the scoreline 1-2 (Arsenal to win). Here the odds are 15 at the time of betting so I placed £12 on it (and make sure it’s accepted). (Ed’s note - If the odds are lower or higher adjust your stake accordingly to get a liability of around £168. Just try typing different amounts in the ‘backer’s stake’ box until you get close to £168. You may find that there is only enough at those odds to cover some of your bet. I bet £12 at 15 but there was only enough to cover £2 of that bet, so I then bet £9.70 at 15.5 to give me a liability on that scoreline of £140.65 at 15.5, which added to the £28 liability at 15 meant a total liability of £168.65 – close enough. The numbers do not have to be dead on for the principle of this scheme to work. Just get them as close as you can. The nearer it gets to kick off the less of a problem this will be as more people will be betting then, and there will be more in the pot for each set of odds.)

This leaves us with a possibility of 2 outcomes:
- Arsenal win 2-1: +107 profit: (+275 at Victor Chandler and -168 at Betfair).
- Any other scoreline: +12 profit (-the free stake at Victor Chandler, +12 at Betfair).

Whilst the more likely outcome is a fairly modest profit of just over a tenner, we want Arsenal to go for it so we should do the same. We’ve given ourselves the opportunity to win big with £100+ if the 2-1 comes in yet still in the knowledge we’ll be making a small profit even if it doesn’t. Remember though odds will change at Betfair before kick off so alter the stakes accordingly

Remember, “Why gamble when you can win”?

Note on Moneybookers

For those that were able to set up Moneybookers, the £10 should be credited to the account within 30 days, but I have mine already. If there are any problems with this it is best to contact [email protected] who will get in touch with them on your behalf for them to add it.

A personal note - I bank with NatWest and used the online bank transfer service of Moneybookers, the money was transferred fine but for the first time since then I tried to log back into NatWest and they’ve said whilst it is a very reputable company their fraud system will prevent me from gaining access again. Since calling them and going through a very long fraud protection service I’ve had to re-submit for NatWest’s online banking. So definitely avoid the online bank transfer if you’re with NatWest! Registering a debit or credit card is best but you should only ever need to upload funds once, as we don’t lose. From now on our money will just circulate about the bookmakers and Betfair and there will be no need to credit Moneybookers any more.

I will be using Moneybookers in coming weeks for the diary, sometimes (but not often) you will have to use it, but overall it is NOT essential. It is recommended though for the convenience of having all my money in one place away from the rest of my finances. Deposits and withdrawals are quicker and easier and when we start betting with some of the European and US bookmakers the currency conversion fees are less.