Wednesdays Soccer – By Chris.
The Premiership
Aston Villa - Middlesbrough 1.65 - 6.25
Middlesbrough had to play their most important game of the
season vs.
Cardiff
in the FA Cup but they had nothing to offer in what
was a very poor display. I expect another half
hearted display from Boro tomorrow. Their last three
games have all been home fixtures, 1-0 after extra
time v. Sheffield United, 0-1 against Reading and
then 0-2 loss to Cardiff. Aladiere, the Boro
striker, completes his suspension tomorrow. High
flying Villa expect to have both O Mellberg and Reo-Coker
back for this match. Zat Knight will replace the
injured defender C Davies. Villa are good, too good
for Middlesbrough (1.65).
Aston Villa 1
Middesbrough 1
Chelsea -
Derby 1.12 - 26.00
Chelsea
have to continue without their injured keeper P Cech.
Could be that D Drogba and F Lampard will be
involved again tomorrow. No need to talk about
Derby.
Chelsea 6 Derby 1
Portsmouth - Birmimgham 1.85 - 5.00
No game for
Birmingham
at the weekend. Their latest match was at home to
Tottenham, with Birmingham having a rare goal feast
(4-1 win). They will be unchanged for this match,
still missing M Taylor and O Kapo. The FA Cup
favourites, Portsmouth, will have the cup tied J
Defoe back tomorrow while M Baros will probably join
Defoe in the front line. I have said it on more than
one occasion that Birmingham have the potential to
trouble the better Premiership sides and I do not
expect Portsmouth to have it all their way tomorrow.
It is up to the Pompey manager Redknapp to motivate
his players again three days after their famous cup
win at Old Trafford. No guarantee that he will
succeed. Motivation or not is definitely not an
issue for the Birmingham players. The way I see it,
they will be on fire tomorrow. Backing the draw!
(3.40).
Portsmouth 4
Birmingham 2
UEFA - cup games, second legs
Bayern Munich - Anderlecht 1.24 - 13.25
There will be 66000 spectators watching the match
and Bayern will shoulder their responsibility.
Although they are 5-0 up, Bayern will not field a
B-side according to their coach. Podolski will
replace the suspended L Toni up front, joining M
Klose. No Schweinsteiger In their midfield, but
another midfielder, van Bommel, will be back from
his suspension and their new Brazilian defender 18
year old Breno will make his full debut. Anderlecht
will be without the suspended Wasilewski and I know
for a fact that also Anderlecht will rest some of
their regulars. Home win I guess, (1.24) but no need
for Bayern to win and backing the home win is out of
the question.
Bayern Munich 1
Anderlecht 2
Everton - Fiorentina 2.00 - 4.25
I was a bit surprised that Everton were clearly
second best against Fiorentina last week. They
fielded their strongest side but it was not enough
in Florence (0-2). I do not think that they are out
this Tie just yet. Everton are the kind of team that
can keep it tight and still manage to score a goal
or two. L Osman has rejoined the Everton squad and L
Carsley will be back from his suspension.
Liverani will return for Fiorentina, joining Donadel
and Kuzmanovic on their midfield. Up front we will
probably see Santana, Vieri (or Pazzini) and Oswaldo.
Still no Mutu. Fiorentina lost the
Tuscany
derby against Siena at the weekend. According to
reports it was one man's fault. Pazzini missed a
hatful of excellent scoring chances. Backing
Everton! (2.00).
Everton 2 Fiorentina 0
Getafe - Benfica 2.05 - 3.75
The home side is 2-1 up from the first leg in
Portugal. Benfica played almost the whole match down
to ten men as Cardozo was dismissed early in the
game. No Cardozo tomorrow, no Luisao either, but
Benfica welcome back some of their most significant
players. Petit, Nuno Gomes, Maxi Pereira and
Makulula are all part of tomorrow's squad. Up front
we will see Makulula and Nuno Gomes, with Mantorras
on the bench. No Camacho! The Benfica coach has
left his job and I think he took the right decision.
Benfica have been terrible this season.
As many as nine Getafe players are out of this
second leg. Braulio, Pablo Hernandez, Granero, Diaz,
M Alvarez, D Sousa, Pallardo, Manu and Uche are the
names.
Getafe
have played so many games lately and some of their
half fit players will probably be crawling soon. Benfica
with, their new regime, should manage their revenge
tomorrow (3.75).
Getafe 1 Benfica 0
P S V - Tottenham 2.55 - 2.88
PSV have been lucky as their big domestic encounter
with Ajax at the weekend was cancelled and they come
to this second leg well rested and extremely
motivated. They were full value for their 1-0 win at
the White Hart Lane last week. I expect PSV
to be unchanged, I Afellay has been declared fit to
play, joining Salcido in the home defence. Tottenham
will once again have to look out for the dangerous
Farfan. Tottenham sent out their super side
last week but they had a rather poor evening.
Winning 4-0 against West Ham at the weekend suggests
that Spurs are over their short crisis and I look
forward to a cracking game. Much better value
on the home win (2.55) at least in my opinion.
PSV 0 Tottenham 1
Zenit - Marseille 2.20 - 3.40
I can see Zenit winning this match (2.20). They
found the net once in Marseille (1-3) and that away
goal has given Advocaat's side a realistic chanced
of advancing. At least that is the way one must look
at it in Petersburg. Their previously suspended duo,
Shirokov and Sirl, will be back, but Kim Dong Jin
goes the other way. Lombaerts is out and both
Domingues and F Tekke are major injury doubts. None
of them took part in the first leg.
Marseille lost to Spartak Moscow 0-2, but they won
the first leg 3-0 and they were through. But 0-2
tomorrow and they are out. Niang did not play
against St Etienne at the weekend but he will be
back tomorrow as well as G Givet and L Cana. They
defeated St Etienne, 2-0, only two days ago and
although the Marseille form is excellent, they will
have problems with two matches during this very
short spell. Zenit for me, with the odd goal
probably (2.20).
Zenit 2 Marseille 0
Hamburg - Bayer
Leverkusen 2.10 - 3.90
"Our worst game of the season", said the Hamburg
coach after their 0-1 loss in the first leg. Both
their defensive midfielders De Jong and Kompany will
be suspended tomorrow and their absences must worry
coach Stevens. C Benjamin, another defensive player
will also be missing and Hamburg have to shake
things up. Van der Vaart must have a strong match
tomorrow or Hamburg will be knocked out of the UEFA
Cup.
Barbarez and Sarpei could not play for Bayer at the
weekend but tomorrow they will be available again.
One point separates these two sides in the
Bundesliga. However I hold on to my belief that
Hamburg are the stronger side in the long run
(2.10).
Hamburg 3 Bayer Leverkusen 2
Thursdays Soccer.
Sporting
Lisbon -
Bolton
1.75 - 5.85
Sporting did not have a good game at
Bolton
but the result that they achieved was excellent
(1-1). Sporting are a typical home team and they
will play a stronger game tomorrow. Rest assured of
that. They are still missing Liedson however.
If Bolton had won the first leg 1-0, they could have
played for the 0-0 draw tomorrow just like they did
in Madrid v. Atletico. Now they have to score at
least one goal to have any chance of advancing. The
thing is that
Bolton play a tremendously important game at
Wigan this coming weekend and coach Megson is not
hiding his priorities. The Wigan game is all that
really matters and Megson is expected to send a
shadow squad to Lisbon. Competitive they will be,
Bolton always are, and do not forget that a
Bolton side filled with second choices managed a 2-2
draw with Bayern in Munich. Anyway, tomorrow I will
back the home win (1.75).
Sporting Lisbon 1 Bolton 0
Werder
Bremen -
Glasgow Rangers 1.62 - 6.35
The first leg was won by Rangers 2-0 and Werder were
once again a disappointing force away from home. The
match looked like a typical 0-0 game, but
unfortunately for the Germans, their keeper had a
disastrous night. Both the Rangers goal were soft
goals. Werder conceded six goals against Stuttgart
at the weekend and more players than their keeper
seem to be in shaky form. Five players, F Baumann, C
Fritz, P Pasanen, I Klasnic and Sanogo were missing
from the Werder training this week, but hopefully
one or two will recover for this match. Maybe Fritz
and Pasanen have the best chances of recovering. The
first three were starters in
Glasgow.
Rangers used Cousin as their lone striker in the
first leg but he will not be available for the
second leg. Darcheville has completed his suspension
and he is the natural replacement to Cousin, but
coach Smith is hesitant. Maybe he will rest
Darcheville for the coming cup final.
Werder are usually a strong, free scoring home side.
In the Bundesliga they have scored 34 goals in their
twelve home games. It is quite possible that Werder
will win this match, but in my opinion the odds on
the home are quite useless (1.62). Did not Rangers
defeat
Lyon away from home in their Champions League
group?
Werder Bremen 1 Rangers 0
Chris.
