Feeling patriotic? Back both English sides at almost 5/2!

Porto/Man Utd, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 2, Free Bets, Best Odds
Arsenal/Villarreal, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 3, Free Bets, Best Odds

There isn’t too much value to be found if you fancy backing the English teams to do well tonight but the best price we have found is on a Manchester United/Arsenal win double, where Paddy Power will pay out £33.73 on a £10 stake. Here’s why that could be a worthwhile bet:

English domination
It’s been almost two years since an English side were knocked out of the Champions League by foreign opposition.

Arsenal’s home comforts
The Gunners haven’t lost a European home match against foreign opposition since September 2003, when they lost their opening group game 3-1 against Inter Milan. Arsenal have conceded just one goal in ten home matches and have won their last four.

Villarreal are struggling
As well as being without a win in three games, the Yellow Submarine have won just one of their last ten away games, losing six times over that period. That run started with a 2-0 loss to Celtic, who finished bottom of their Champions League group.

Man Utd did similar last year

Posted: April 15th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Will Chelsea be able to finish the job in Turin?

Juventus/Chelsea, 7.45pm, ITV4, Free Bets, Best Odds

Only 58% of teams who win the home leg of a Champions League knockout clash 1-0 have progressed to the next round, meaning that Juventus are priced far too high at 3/1 with 888sport to qualify. But while the hosts may offer good value, is Guus Hiddink’s honeymoon period really going to end in the worst way imaginable? Here are all the key statistics:

THE FORM GUIDE
Chelsea have won six successive games since sacking Luiz Felipe Scolari. The wins since Hiddink took charge have come by narrow margins though, with three of the last five finishing 1-0, one ending 2-1 and the other being their 2-0 triumph away to Coventry at the weekend. Since losing the first leg at Stamford Bridge, Juventus have beaten both Napoli and Torino 1-0 in Serie A. However, a reasonably weakened Bianconeri side lost 2-1 away to Lazio last week in their Coppa Italia semi-final.

CHELSEA IN ITALY
The Blues hadn’t played away to Italian opposition for five seasons before their 3-1 defeat to Roma in November. What made the manner of the loss even more surprising was that their previous match in Italy had been played at the same ground and they had thrashed Lazio 4-0 on that occasion. Chelsea have made five trips to Italy in the Premier League era and have a mixed record: winning one, drawing two and losing two.

JUVENTUS AGAINST ENGLISH OPPOSITION

Posted: March 10th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

FC Twente could finally get a result on the road in Europe

Schuper Schteve McClaren prepares his troops to face Marseille

The second coming of Steve McClaren, who was written off as a failure and forced to work abroad, has gone from strength to strength and his Dutch side FC Twente are now unbeaten in fourteen domestic games, of which they have won ten, and stand an outside chance of winning the Eredivisie.

The one area where drastic improvement is still required is European away games, of which they have lost their last eight, and the trip to Marseille tonight offers them a good chance of doing that. The visitors can be backed at 5/1 with Sky Bet while the draw is 11/4 with Ladbrokes .

Posted: February 19th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Manchester Utd aren’t good at overcoming first-leg deficits

As Jose Mourinho will no doubt vouch…

Besides their incredible comeback against AS Roma in the Champions League quarter-finals two years ago, Manchester United have never overcome a first-leg deficit under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Most of their two-legged encounters have taken place in Europe which means it doesn’t offer a flawless indication of whether they will recover against Derby however on the previous occasion they lost a League Cup first leg they ended up being eliminated by third-tier York City.

An encouraging sign though is the fact that they have only lost the second-leg three times under such circumstances:

Posted: January 20th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five reasons why Garcia will flop at the Ryder Cup

Why the matchplay golf legend will have a bad weekend

Sergio Garcia is a Ryder Cup legend: the Spaniard was the youngest ever European when he debuted in 1999 as a 19-year-old and his 75% win percentage is the best of anyone who has played 15 or more matches. So it would be blasphemy to suggest that Sergio Garcia could flop this year, but that’s exactly what we’re going to do:

He’s a nearly man
Garcia has finished in the top ten at 14 different majors without ever winning. The worst of those near misses came at last year’s Open Championship when he led throughout the first three days only to allow Padraig Harrington to draw level on the final day and defeat him in a play-off.

That argument translates to the Ryder Cup
In 2006, the Spaniard had the chance to seal Ryder Cup immortality by becoming the first player to complete a clean sweep of five points from five matches but blew it at the final hurdle by losing his singles match to Stewart Cink, who hadn’t won any of his four matches outright.

Posted: September 17th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment