A tip from the Joker to get your betting day under way… The Joker’s Bet of the Day: Back Under 2.5 Goals at 1.97 in Hamburg v Anderlecht Caracas FC and the Joker were undone yesterday by a Brazil striker whose arrivals (arrives, Ron?) in opponents’ boxes are accompanied in the Joker’s head by the Ride of the Valkyries Apocalypse Now music. He scored twice as Flamengo won 3-1, but, unlike Hitler before him, the Joker refuses to allow Vagner Love to skew his worldview. In fact, he’s going to forget last night ever happened and move straight on to this evening’s Europa League action, which includes Hamburg v Anderlecht
Kevin Hatchard is back to talk us through the best betting opportunities in the Bundesliga this weekend, including why Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s Hamburg can deny league favourites Bayern Munich another three more points. “Van Nistelrooy may play some part in this match, and if he does Hamburg are capable of extending their five-match unbeaten run
Jonathan Wilson was at Craven Cottage to watch Shakhtar Donetsk lose 2-1 against Fulham but an intimidating atmosphere, a futuristic stadium and the footballing calendar may yet result in the them going very far in this competition once again… “The other telling factor may be the calendar. The pattern is becoming increasingly obvious: eastern sides falter in October and November because they are exhausted towards the end of the season. Come the spring, they are refreshed and so have an advantage.” Watching Fulham beat Shakhtar Don etsk last week was like watching an English side in Europe 25 years ago. For long periods they were dominated, and endured the ball being pinged around in front of them – the official stats showed Shakhtar had enjoyed 69 per cent of the possession – but they had the resilience, both tactically and emotionally, to hold Shakhtar off and catch them on the break
A Marcell Jansen penalty is all that separates these sides as they prepare to do battle again in Eindhoven but at 2.58 the Dutch side can be trusted to avenge their first leg defeat, writes Richard Aikman.
“PSV have won all five of their European home in this campaign – and each by a 1-0 scoreline 8.6.”
After taking a first-half lead in the first leg, Hamburg were second best for long periods of the second half, despite the introduction of Ze Roberto and Ruud van Nistelrooy as substitutes, and the tie would bear a very different complexion had Ola Toivonen or Otman Bakkal finished off the good work down the left of the in-form Hungarian winger Balázs Dzsudzsák.
Hamburg will be pleased that they avoided the away goal and Bruno Labbadia’s men
Every week Andrew Atherley will be selecting three odds-on shots worth laying.
Tobias Gourlay hits the Autobahn to find out more about a couple of Thursday’s biggest Europa League games.
Ben Lyttleton discusses the career of Ruud Van Nistelrooy and tells us why his move to Hamburg may yet prove to be a great little bit of business by the German club….
Roger in Basel, Rafael in Monte Carlo and Roddick king of Queens. Simon Mundie takes a close look at the tournaments which certain players consistently dominate
