AC Milan will once again kick Manchester United to the European curb

Back man on right to knock man on left out of Europe

Carlo Ancelotti’s work so far at Chelsea can’t really be faulted but we were always of the opinion that his spell as AC Milan boss was often overrated.

Two Champions League winners’ medals overshadowed a decade as boss of first Juventus and then the Rosseneri in which he only won Serie A once. And whereas his last two seasons at the San Siro saw the club fighting - and failing on one occasion - just to qualify for the Champions League, his rookie

Posted: January 11th, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

John Terry is 5/2 to move to Manchester City this summer

Click here to check out all of Sky Bet’s latest transfer specials

Photo Credit: Carl Court, PA Wire

Sky Bet have priced Manchester City at 5/2 to sign John Terry this summer despite Carlo Ancelotti’s claim this morning that he will be at Chelsea forever.

The online bookmakers are still fairly sure that the England captain will stay at Stamford Bridge though and have priced that possibility at 1/5. One player who seems certain to choose City over the Blues however is Carlos Tevez, who is 1/7 to move to Eastlands and 4/1 to join Chelsea.

The most open transfer special available on Sky Bet surrounds versatile Turkish forward Tuncay. The Middlesbrough man is 5/1 to stay at Riverside and is the same price to join Chelsea, Liverpool or City. As if it wasn’t already close, Sunderland are right behind at 6/1, with Spurs 7/1 and Aston Villa 9/1.

UPDATE: The Chelsea captain has now been cut to 2/1 to join City and is 4/11 to stay put

Posted: July 6th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Bet on who Carlo Ancelotti’s first Chelsea signing will be

Alexandre Pato is 9/2 to be the next new arrival at the Bridge

Paddy Power have opened a market on who Carlo Ancelotti will sign first for Chelsea with the Italian’s former colleague Alexandre Pato the 9/2 favourite.

Surprisingly, given reports that he wants to sign each of the few AC Milan players under the age of 35, the rest of the contenders come from a broad range of clubs and countries, with Yuri Zhirkov and Glen Johnson 11/2, Franck Ribery 13/2 and Emmanuel Adebayor and Karim Benzema 10/1.

Posted: June 3rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Chelsea’s decision to appoint Carlo Ancelotti gains support

Click here for the latest odds on next season’s Premier League

Here at chickendinner we aren’t convinced that Carlo Ancelotti is the right man to guide Chelsea back into title contention but it appears that punters disagree with us.

Before news of the Italian’s appointment broke, the Blues were 4.2 to win the title but by the close of play they had been backed in to 3.85, although they have dropped back a bit this morning.

Chelsea, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, AZ, Marseille, Bayern Munich, Schalke and Wolfsburg have already made managerial changes for the coming season but the famed merry-go-round is going to gather even more momentum over the coming week. Juventus, Celtic, Portsmouth and Sunderland are already looking for a new boss and Roma, Lazio and Wigan look set to join them.

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Posted: June 2nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Chelsea are 8/1 not to lose another PL match this season

Will Hiddink go unbeaten in his 13 league games with the Blues?

Guus Hiddink has been priced at 8/1 by Sky Bet to avoid defeat in his thirteen league games in charge of Chelsea. This may seem like a tough task but the Blues have managed it in three of the last four seasons, with their biggest remaining games coming away to Aston Villa and Arsenal. The Russia boss also achieved the feat in his last two seasons with PSV.

Chelsea are 11/2 to fail to quality for next season’s Champions League while you can back Hiddink to replicate Jose Mourinho by winning his first four games [Aston Villa (a), Wigan (h), Portsmouth (a), Manchester City (h)] at 9/2. The Dutchman is 500/1 to lead the Blues to the Premier League this season and Russia to the World Cup next summer.

Despite Hiddink’s pledge to stay with Russia until after the World Cup, he is 11/8 to be named permanent Chelsea boss in the summer. The other candidates are Carlo Ancelotti (7/2), Gianfranco Zola (5/1), Frank Rijkaard (7/1) and Jose Mourinho (8/1).

Posted: February 11th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Lazio 4/1 to finally beat Milan

Milan/Lazio, 7.45pm, Coppa Italia, Best Odds, Free Bets

AC Milan and Lazio have both spent time on top of Serie A this season but both clubs have lost that early-season form and are now on a run of three game without a win. Tonight they meet in the final sixteen of the Coppa Italia, which means that one of them will finally taste victory.

Lazio have failed to beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side in their last eleven meetings, with Milan winning eight of them. However, their last victory against the five-time winners came the last time they collided in the Coppa Italia in the 2003-04 season. On that occasion Lazio won 2-1 in Milan then won the return 4-0.

This year the tie will be decided on the night as the format has changed and Lazio are 4/1 with Ladbrokes and Paddy Power to repeat their heroics of five seasons ago and are 16/1 with 888sport and Ladbrokes to win 2-1 again. Bet365 offer best price of 5/6 on a home win.

Posted: December 3rd, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment