The three teams in The Championship’s bottom three desperately need to start picking up the points if they are to stand any chance of survival, but expect the trio to struggle this weekend.

While there continues to be little action on the transfer front this month the games are coming thick and fast, with eight Premier League matches scheduled for Saturday. We pick out the three best bets for the weekend, starting with Chelsea’s trip to Carrow Road to take on Norwich.

The Masters at Alexandra Palace is now in full swing and snooker fans are in for a treat in the first quarter-final on Thursday, with legend Ronnie O’Sullivan set to face the sport’s rising star Judd Trump.

The year’s first Grand Slam is nearly upon us and the women’s draw for the Australian Open looks wide open with any number of possible winners. Petra Kvitova heads the market as the 5/2 favourite in the outright betting but might there be a shock in store Down Under?

There are just two Premier League games on Sunday but there’s plenty at stake as Mark Hughes takes charge of QPR for the first time against Newcastle while Arsenal hope to maintain their bid for a top-four place with a win at Swansea.

Saturday’s round of Championship matches sees the division’s top three sides, Southampton, West Ham and Cardiff, all face winnable but potentially tricky trips against teams scrapping it out at the wrong end of the table and we assess their chances of picking up maximum points.

There are seven Premier League games all kicking off at 3pm on Saturday and, by the end of the day, Manchester United and Spurs could have moved level with leaders Man City at the top. There is plenty to get your teeth into therefore and here we look at some of the key games.

Two defeats from three games in all competitions in January means Manchester City must get back on track against Liverpool in a Carling Cup semi-final first-leg clash at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday (Manchester City 5/6 Liverpool 6/4 – Carling Cup outright).

Tottenham should maintain their challenge to stay on the coat-tails of the Manchester powerhouses when they entertain Everton at White Hart Lane in the Premier League on Wednesday (Tottenham 8/15 draw 3/1 Everton 6/1 – 90 minutes).

The thought of playing at Wembley must have been on the minds of most players from Crystal Palace and Cardiff City over the festive period as one of these sides will grace the turf at the home of football in the Carling Cup final this season (Crystal Palace 17/10, draw 23/10, Cardiff 8/5 in the match betting).