Best Bets for 2022: Antepost betting tips for the year ahead

The New Year is upon us and there’s plenty to look forward to in the sporting world in the coming 12 months. We’ve asked some of our team here at BettingOdds.com to provide us with their Best Bets for 2022 from a range of sports. 

NFL

Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LVI - 5/1 @ Bet365/William Hill

By Adam Roberts 

Despite their close loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17, which surrendered their No.1 seed spot to the Tennessee Titans, I still think the Chiefs are the team to beat in the AFC.

KC will likely finish in the no.2 seed which should see them play either the Chargers or the Raiders in the Wild Card round. Both teams which they have beat comfortably this year. 

If they likely progress to the divisional round then they would either play the Colts, Bengals, Patriots or Bills. Of those only the Bengals really scare me but the Chiefs defence can’t play as bad as the second half last week and they weren’t helped by some dubious officiating calls. 

The Titans smashed Kansas back in week 7 but should they be the opponent in the AFC Championship game, I would still be confident. The Chiefs are a totally different prospect now and the Titans currently don’t have a fully fit Derrick Henry. 

If the Chiefs were to progress past all these potential opponents and reach their 3rd straight Super Bowl then I can see it being a showdown with the Green Bay Packers. Patrick Mahomes vs Aaron Rodgers in a winner takes all shoot out. The Packers have an equally difficult route in the NFC though, so that is not a given. With the newly firing KC offensive line and twin talents of Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill clicking with Mahomes again, I can see The Chiefs winning at the SoFi stadium for their 2nd Lombardi in three years. 

Horse Racing (Cheltenham Festival)

Langer Dan to Win the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle - 12/1 bet365

By Billy Grimshaw

It is often said patience is a virtue, and this is never truer than in a discipline like sports betting. With that said, it is to the very last race of the Cheltenham Festival (the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle) I cast my eye, to find what I believe to be the best punting opportunity of 2022. 

The winner of this race last year was Willie Mullins’ monster Galopin Des Champs, who took command close home and blitzed away from all bar one rival to win. Judging by what the horse has done since that success last March, both over hurdles and fences now novice chasing, it is fair to say that any runner which got near him was putting up one hell of a performance. 

The only rival who managed to stay with him for the majority of the race was the Skelton’s Langer Dan. Despite never looking like going past the winner, he only went down in the end by 2 and ¼ lengths, beating the third horse home by 11 lengths. 

This was an almighty performance from a horse who had only secured his entry into the race the previous weekend, with success in the Imperial Cup at Sandown. The plan to pull off the Imperial Cup/Martin Pipe double seemed to have been laid to perfection by Dan Skelton and he looked suitably sickened to see his runner defeated by a graded horse clearly masquerading as a handicapper. However, respite was around the corner as after The Festival the latest handicapping amendments were made public and Langer Dan was left on a mark which would mean he could have another crack at the race in 2022.

Skelton’s plan will surely be to preserve that mark, and quite frankly I think in any normal year Langer Dan’s performance in the race in 2021 would see him as a commanding winner with connections forced into graded company. Hopefully this season there is no Irish raider destined for Gold Cup glory in the field to spoil the party and Langer Dan can make amends for last year and take home the prize. He will undoubtedly be nearer half the price he is now on the day (particularly if Galopin Des Champs wins earlier in the week as expected) so take the 12/1 now!

Football (2021/2022 season)

Blackburn Rovers Top 2 Finish - 8/1 bet365

By Anthony Eadson

It’s been a joy to hold a season ticket down at Ewood Park this season with Tony Mowbray’s side finding themselves second in the table at the start of January. Call me biased being of the blue and white nature, but I genuinely believe Rovers have a great chance of returning to the Premier League this campaign and in my opinion the 8/1 about a top-2 finish with bet365 makes plenty of appeal still.

Blackburn have collected more points at home than any other side in the league this season W9 D3 L2. One of those defeats was a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Fulham in November, but it proved to be a turning point in the season. Since then Rovers are unbeaten, winning seven of their last nine and have been exceptional with key wins also coming on the road at Bournemouth and Stoke.

Ben Brererton Diaz is one of the stories of the season, which I’m sure everyone has heard many times, but his 20 goals in 25 appearances in 2021/2022 cannot be ignored. Diaz is a young man in the form of his life and it’s crucial that Blackburn keep hold of him in the January window. Joe Rothwell, Darragh Lenihan and John Buckley have been immense over the last few months and with loan signings Jan Paul van Hecke and Reda Khedra getting better by the week, there’s a feeling that this team is really going places. 

Bournemouth and Fulham have won just two of their last ten games between them and have looked far from as convincing as they did in the opening months of the campaign. Unibet go just  4/1 about a Rovers top-2 finish and with that in mind I’d be happy to take the 8’s with bet365 and wouldn’t put anyone off the 10/3 as a slight cover bet for them to be promoted.

Football (World Cup)

Argentina to win the World Cup - 11/1 Paddy Power / William Hill

By Jack Kitson

Plucking out a World Cup winner is always good fun, and with less than 11 months to go until proceedings kick-off in Qatar there’s plenty of value to be had. Brazil are the current bookies’ frontrunners, but I really like the look of a rejuvenated Argentina at a tasty double-figure price of 11/1.

La Albiceleste are much-changed from the flakey, under-performing side that have previously failed to thrive when it counts. Under the excellent Lionel Scaloni they are now a far more cohesive unit who last summer ended decades of hurt by winning their first major trophy - Copa America - since 1993. 

Furthermore, they are currently unbeaten in a whopping 27 games dating back to 2019! Lionel Messi lifting the famous golden trophy in possibly his final World Cup would be majestic.