There’s more than one version of “Clash of the Titans” being shown this weekend says “Mystical” Mike Norman as he previews Saturday’s huge Premier League encounter. Best Bet: Back Didier Drogba To Sore @ 2.8.
Best Bet: Back Didier Drogba @ 2.8 in the To Score market
Also: Back Yes option @ 3.6 [...]
You can’t move for major sporting events this Easter, with Man United taking on Chelsea and Oxford and Cambridge both having made the final two for the Boat Race again. On the racing front, the lull between Cheltenham and Aintree continues, but RUK and betmaverick.com analyst Graham Cunningham has been eyeing the Flat action in his weekly blog. “In the 15:15 at Kempton, Chantilly Tiffany holds definite place claims while Mosqueras Romance is the sort of smooth-travelling improver who could help dictate matters to give her back-to-lay followers plenty to shout about.” Romance could spring a back-to-lay surprise on a trappy Kempton card Four Flat races on the AW from Kempton form the bulk of the live action for terrestrial telly viewers this Saturday. The good news is that Channel 4 have promised not to go off air before the result of the feature race is known this week
Ed Nicholson looks at the big match of the weekend as Chelsea visit Old Trafford and Wolves’ trip to the Emirates in search of over/under 2.5 goals value. “With United casting one eye on their second leg quarter final match against Bayern Munich next week, and without the influential Wayne Rooney I can see United being quite tight and compact here. Chelsea too will want to get a result – and a draw is not a bad one for them. So a low scoring draw is foreseen.” Man Utd v Chelsea This game now has a completely different feel to it following Chelsea’s impressive 7-1 success against Aston Villa last Saturday and, perhaps even more pertinently, Wayne Rooney’s injury in midweek. And for those who have been saying that Man United have only performed so well this season thanks to Rooney’s tremendous form, this Sunday’s game against Chelsea will either go some way to proving them right or wrong. Obviously one match will be far from conclusive on that score, but it does just happen to be against Chelsea at a time of the season when losing any game could prove decisive in deciding league titles or relegation battles
Jack is going to the dark side as blue battles blue in this year’s Boat Race “Oxford bring a crew of previous winners, established Olympians and strong international rowers. Bolstered by the same stable support team who has orchestrated Oxford’s current winning streak, it’s hard to see how Oxford can lose.
Chelsea haven’t won at Old Trafford since Jose Mourinho’s first season – can they change that this Saturday? Meanwhile, how will the Premier League’s most consistent home boys fare against struggling oppostion? Andrew Atherley reports. “Chelsea have a good record at Old Trafford, but you have to go back to Jose Mourinho’s first season to find their last away win against United.” Market activity on Betfair will be huge for the Saturday lunchtime title showdown between Manchester United and Chelsea, so where do the stats say the money should be going? Looking back through Premier League history at results between the eventual top two finishers gives us some idea of what to expect, even though it is not safe to assume yet that Arsenal won’t gatecrash back into second place at least. And the first notable factor is that away wins are rare, with only six in 35 matches (a low 17%), which indicates that Chelsea hardly merit being almost favourites at 2.9 against United’s 2.86 in the early match betting. Chelsea have a good record at Old Trafford, but you have to go back to Jose Mourinho’s first season to find their last away win against United.
Aston Villa have taken the unusual step of denying that Martin O’Neill is set to quit Aston Villa. Ralph Ellis wonders if there can be smoke without fire… “O’Neill has come in to 7.2 second favourite to be Manchester United’s next manager on the strength of the gossip, which suggests he’s fallen out with owner Randy Lerner over investment levels.” I love the internet age. There wouldn’t be a Betfair without it, after all. But one of the downsides is the way rumours spread like wildfire. Football fans, of course, love all the gossip about who might be moving where, who could be quitting, and who’s fallen out with whom in the same dressing room. And there’s always somebody whose cousin knows a bloke who drinks with the centre-forward’s hairdresser and can confirm, 100 per cent, that he’s put his house up for sale because he’s joining Arsenal next year. For we old fashioned newspaper hacks that presents a whole load of stories to check out because, believe it or not, papers still aim to print only the truth, or at the very least stuff they genuinely believe to be the truth . The response of clubs and their managers has become mostly to neither confirm nor deny anything
Tobias Gourlay sees something beautiful on the horizon as Barcelona travel to North London.
Horrible night in Germany for United ends in last minute defeat and injury to Rooney.
This weekend showed that a good XI is just not enough in the Premier League these days “Arsenal are beginning to look thin, suddenly having to rely on Sol Campbell and Alex Song as their two centre backs in the 1-1 draw at Birmingham. Barcelona will be rubbing their hands at the thought of getting at that pair at The Emirates on Wednesday.” Back in 1981, Aston Villa won the League title using only 14 players . In reality, though, it was only 12
Ibrahimovic is back on the scoring trail for Barcelona and that’s ominous for Arsenal, says Ben Lyttleton “Much of the focus this week will be on how Arsenal stops Messi, but the danger is that they double up on the Argentine and allow crosses for Zlatan to take advantage.” Teams in Champions League action historically drop points on the weekend before big European games, often because they rest their most important players, and so it proved in the cases of Bayern Munich , Arsenal and Internazionale this week. Bordeaux also lost their French League Cup final to Marseille, after coach Laurent Blanc prioritised the European tie against Lyon
