James Eastham explains why the absence of a certain Manchester United striker is arguably a bigger factor than the involvement of 22 other players in the game. Best bet: Under 2.5 goals @ 2.16 . Recommended bets: Manchester Utd v Bayern Munich under 2.5 goals @ 2.16 ; Manchester United to win 1-0 and 2-0 @ 9.2 and 10.0 respectively.
Find out how your creativity and banter can play a big part in the Manchester derby on the 19th April….
The Barney Army is never more vocal than in Scotland and that can be enough to inspire Raymond van Barneveld to victory over Adrian Lewis this week… Back Manchester United to beat Bayern Munich @ 1.8 Back van Barneveld to beat Lewis @ 2.6 Back Kolkata Knight Riders to beat Delhi Daredevils @ 2.4 Treble pays @ 11.2 Bet 1: Football – Champions League Bouncebackability may have only been officially recognised as a word of the English language since 2004, but its literal definition – the ability to bounce back – is a trait which Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United sides have been practising for over two decades.
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 [...]
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
Horrible night in Germany for United ends in last minute defeat and injury to Rooney.
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
Given the excitement of recent seasons, it almost feels that the Bundesliga this season is anti-climactic, what with only three teams going for the title. Even the Premier League can manage that occasionally, writes Jonathan Wilson. “Bayern need a win against Stuttgart on Saturday 1.6 to prove that last week’s defeat was a blip, and not a sign of wider decline. They remain 1.55 favourites to lift the title.” Bayern Munich , rejuvenated under Louis van Gaal after their worst ever start, had seemed likely to surge away with the Bundesliga title, as they put together a run of 19 games unbeaten including nine straight wins. Arjen Robben has been outstanding, having finally returned to fitness, cutting in from the flank to score 10 league goals this season. He is another of the inside-out wingers – Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo being only the two highest profile; even somebody like the right-footed Steed Malbranque at Sunderland has benefited since a switch to the left in recent weeks – who seem such a feature of modern football.
Those who suffered a miserable week’s punting at Cheltenham took a step back in the right direction if following Saturday’s Lingfield placepot, so team all-weather get the go-ahead for a crack at Monday’s card at Wolverhampton, with the potential for a sizeable payout “Make Amends’ handicap mark may be catching up with her now but she’s still worth banking on in the last after using plenty of lines elsewhere, thriving as she is.” 2:20 – There’s unlikely to be much pace in the first leg, so we’re taking a chance that the inexperienced-yet-promising Matthew Cosham can get the fractions right from the front on Top Flight Splash , who’s yet to run a bad race since joining the David Evans stable. In an ideal world, we’d have three on side in what is a potentially muddling race, but it’s hard to justify selecting anything other than the well-handicapped Cornus , so we’ll place a bit of faith in him to build on the encouragement of his recent sixth at Lingfield. 2:50 – The seller is much more straightforward in that Blue Neptune and Flaxen Lake both come into the race at the top of their game and are at their best under today’s conditions. Provided they don’t take each other on for the lead, it’s hard to see both of them kept out of the three. 3:20 – None of those with Flat form in the third leg are up to winning an average maiden, and the feeling is that if Dancing Dude has even a fraction of the ability his pedigree entitles him to and Shut The Bar (bumper/hurdles winner) is spot on after three months off, that they’ll have the race between them. 3:50 – It would be no surprise, following an impressive debut success, were Srda to prove far too good from a mark of 71 so we’re going to have her on side
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