The Sporting Week Ahead Preview : Bellew Faces his Toughest Battle

Last Updated : 6th November, 2018 By Steve A

VENUE

various venues

TIME

Tuesday November 6 to Monday November 12

BROADCAST

Live on Sky Sports and BT Sport

See Stats

 It's a busy week ahead of sporting action with lots for everyone to enjoy and an unexpected comeback. Our preview looks ahead to rugby union, tennis, football and boxing events.

Rugby Union: England v New Zealand - Saturday 10 November 4pm

England take on the All-Blacks for the first time in four years. Those four years have seen England go on a long unbeaten run to establish themselves as leading contenders for next year's World Cup. Then it all seemed to go wrong with five straight losses and defeat by the Barbarians before two wins over South Africa. The last win was on November 3 when beating the South Africans 12-11. They'll have to play a lot better against the All-Blacks who are fresh from winning the Rugby Championship and in each of their last 12 tests have scored at least four tries. The All-Blacks did concede 36 points when losing to South Africa recently but you have to question just how England's defence will be able to compete against the All-Blacks forwards. The suggested tip is for New Zealand to win on a -11 handicap.

There are some great odds of 4/6 on New Zealand winning on a -11 handicap at the moment with Coral (18+, Ts & Cs Apply. Please Gamble Responsibly)

Boxing: Oleksandr Usyk v Tony Bellew - Saturday 10 November 10pm

Tony Bellew returns to the cruiserweight division to take on the unbeaten Oleksandr Usyk. His Ukranian opponent currently owns all four of the major titles in this division after winning the World Boxing Series Final. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist is unbeaten in his 15 pro fights and regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. All of which makes beating Usyk a tremendous challenge which is just what Tony Bellew likes.

Bellew has won his last ten fights since losing to Adonis Stevenson for the World Light-Heavyweight title five years ago. In that time, Bellew has won the WBC cruiserweight title and never lost that in the ring. His last two fights have both been in the heavyweight division getting two wins over David Haye.  Bellew will give it everything and is again saying this will be his last fight. He's invested well in property and has plenty of media work so it makes sense. 

The last six Usyk fights have all gone at least nine rounds with four going the full 12 rounds. Bellew has won six of his last seven fights inside the distance and he has a puncher's chance here. Usyk is such a clever boxer though and if Bellew gets too brave going for the stoppage, the odds are that Usyk will give a heavy reply. Bellew has been floored five times in his career and at a level lower than this contest. Go for an inside the distance win for the defending champion in this fight.

You can get odds of 9/10 on Usyk to win by KO, TKO or DQ with 888Sport (18+, Ts & Cs Apply. Please Gamble Responsibly)

Manchester City v Manchester United - Sunday November 11 4pm

Both teams had a good result in Europe's top club competition and now face each other in the Manchester derby. City lead the Premier League by two points going into the weekend but by the time this game begins, they could be third behind Chelsea and Liverpool. They are still unbeaten in the Premier League this season and have won their last six matches in all competitions, hitting six goals in each of the last two. City have played 17 home league games since being beaten, but that was by United on the night the home side were hoping to celebrate winning England's top league.

City haven't won any of their last three home games against United and will be wary of their opponents. United caused a shock on Wednesday when winning at Juventus to boost their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages of the Champions League and have won their last two Premier League matches and are unbeaten in the last five. There's still that slight fragility about them and if they play like they did in the first half of their match against Bournemouth last weekend, then they could have a torrid time here. City will want to keep their unbeaten record and are in top form at present, so a home win is likely here but with both teams scoring with United having scored in their last eight away matches.

Current odds for Manchester City to beat Manchester United with both teams scoring are 8/5with Betfair (18+, Ts & Cs Apply. Please Gamble Responsibly)

ATP Tour Finals - Sunday November 11 - Sunday November 18

The tennis season is coming to an end but there's still the ATP Tours final and the conclusion of the top team tournament, The Davis Cup to look forward to. The ATP Tour finals is a bit of a perk for the top points scorers this year with a ridiculous .7m for the winner and even those on stand-by get 0,000.

The tournament has been hit by the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin Del Potro and of course no Andy Murray leaving new world number one Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer as the main challengers for the title. The eight players are split into two round-robin groups with Djokovic up against the continually disappointing Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic and John Isner. Federer is up against Kei Nishikori, Kevin Anderson and Dominic Thiem.

The top two in each group qualify for the semi-finals and Djokovic and Federer look certain to reach the last four. Who'll join them? Cilic and Thiem look good bets though Nishikori can't be ruled out. Djokovic has had a great second-half of 2018 but did lose to Karen Khachinov in the final of last week's Paris Masters. He's reached the final in his last five appearances at the 02 and won four of them. Roger Federer is always a threat of course but has a couple of recent defeats to Djokovic and is more prone to the occasional off-day now. This preview believes Novak Djokovic is a solid favourite to get the win here.

Get odds of 8/13 on Novak Djokovic winning the tournament with William Hill (18+, Ts & Cs Apply. Please Gamble Responsibly)

Thursday 15 November - England v USA 8pm

England prepare for their crucial Europa League game against Croatia but the interest in this game will be on someone who will be spending most of the game on the bench. Wayne Rooney is back for his final international appearance and will be appearing as a late substitute. He'll get a decent reception and Wembley will go crazy if he gets on the scoresheet.

More importantly, England need to build on the win over Spain and should be able to do that against an inconsistent American side who missed out on the World Cup this year. They have only won one of their last six matches most recently losing at home to Colombia and drawing with Peru. They also have no wins in their last five away matches.  England must forget about what will happen in the final stages of the match and concentrate on the game, a win to nil for the home side is a decent bet.

You can get odds of 20/21 on England to beat USA to nil with Bet365 (18+, Ts & Cs Apply. Please Gamble Responsibly)