CSKA Moscow - Lille 2.35 - 3.50
Leading CSKA striker Doumbia will be suspended for this match. His offensive colleague Tosic is out injured as well as defender Schennikov. CSKA lost their last league game, a home game against Rubin Kazan 1-2. Certainly not according to plans, but I noticed that Honda was playing again. The Japanese midfielder has yet to feature in the Champions League, but he will play tomorrow.
Hazard will be back in the Lille starting line up, but it does not look too good for Basa and Pedretti. Debuchy will return from his suspension. There is not much to think about for Lille. They absolutely have to go for the three points on the synthetic pitch tomorrow. They have the capacity to defeat CSKA, but so far they have underachieved in their European displays. Inexperience or who knows what but something has been missing. They have been in the lead a couple of times, for instance 2-0 at home to CSKA, but so far no wins. Looking at the odds, I have to say that the value is on the home win.
Trabzonspor - Inter 3.20 - 2.54
A draw here and Inter are through to the next round. Maybe they want to do better. Inter lost their home game against this Trabzonspor side (second in the Turkish league) and the Inter players are looking for sweet revenge. After that disastrous start Inter have won three group games on the bounce, two of them away fixtures against CSKA and Lille. Best side in this group, no doubt.
Both Lucio and Nagatomo will be back in contention for this fixture, but Sneijder is out injured. I am not screaming like everyone else when Sneijder is missing. He was great like the entire Inter side when they won the treble coached by Mourinho, but I have not seen anything in particular from Sneijder for quite some time now.
Trabzonspor have drawn their previous two home games and as the draw will be a positive result for Inter I will not rule out the draw result. X2 game.
Bayern Munich - Villarreal 1.17 - 20.00
Pointless Villarreal are still missing their two strikers G Rossi and Nilmar as well as Gonzalo Rodriguez, Zapata,Cani and Camunas. Bayern will miss Schweinsteiger and Badstuber, but A Robben is available again. Villarreal, at this moment, are not good enough to compete on this top level and they will most likely lose their fifth straight group game tomorrow.
Napoli - Manchester City 4.10 - 2.07
Who is not looking forward to this fixture? So much at stake. Man City, the stronger side, will be against a Napoli side known to play some unbelievable games at their own stadium from time to time. Usually there are many goals scored in those fixtures and usually Cavani is scoring two or three of those goals.
The odds are right, in my opinion, but I am bit surprised that the bookmakers took this stand, so clearly pro Man City. I mean, City have not really impressed in Europe. OK, they looked convincing against Villarreal in their last match, but Villarreal were without half of their team on that day.
I am pretty convinced that Napoli will allow Man City to dictate tomorrows game. Napoli are one of the few home teams that like to play on the counter, so do not be fooled when City are dominating the match, possession wise, that is. The odds on the away win are close to unbackable, but that is only my stand point.
Otelul - Basel 4.95 - 1.85
All credit to Basel. They are still in with a chance in this group, a group that everyone expected Man United and Benfica to dominate from start to finish. To everyone�s surprise, once again, Basel played out a 1-1 draw at Benfica. The fact is that Basel finished the game the stronger side. Fact is also that none of their veteran strikers A Frei and Streller played in Portugal. Both Streller and Frei started at the weekend for Basel and I take it for granted that they will be involved in tomorrow�s game.
Otelul remain pointless, but it is not like they have given up, or anything like that. They have offered decent displays against Man United, twice, but they do not possess enough quality to threaten a side like United. In their opening game they lost 1-2 away to Basel, but they could easily have drawn that match. A late red card destroyed their day.
This 1.85 on the away win is too paltry a price. Basel as big favourites away from home? In some way it does not seem right. No bet game for now.
Manchester Utd - Benfica 1.50 - 7.75
Benfica will be looking for one point at Old Trafford. They will not be the first European side trying to play a cautious game against United, but usually they end up with nothing. Maybe the Benfica players will be a bit elevated seeing that the United key defender Vidic will be missing due to a suspension. J Evans will probably join R Ferdinand in the United defence. W Rooney and J Evans did not take part in the United training session on Monday, but no explanation has been given. 1-0 or 2-0 for United.
Real Madrid - Dinamo Zagreb 1.08 - 36.00
Kind of exhibition game for Real and hopefully for Zagreb the home players will not be too excited about playing this rather meaning less fixture. Sometimes, well every so often, playing in the league, Real just keep on attacking winning the match with five or six goals happy to amuse their fans.
Real had a tough game against Valencia at the weekend, they face Atletico next in the derby and maybe they will take it easy against D Zagreb. I think so, but I would not bet on it.
Just noticed in the Spanish papers that Mourinho could give some of his many fringe players a starting role tomorrow. N Sahin, Altintop, Varane, Coentrao, Callejon and Granero may feature. Definitely missing will be Di Maria, Marcelo, Kaka and Arbeloa. So maybe D Zagreb (without Simunic and Vrsaljko) will not be smashed after all? Hell, I do not know.
Lyon - Ajax 1.85 - 4.75
Both L Lopez and M Bastos came on as second half substitutes for Lyon against Rennes. Their come backs could not prevent Lyon from losing the match. Bad rehearsal, but it has been worse for Ajax. In their last two league games they have picked up only one point and conceded eight goals. And I am talking about the Dutch league, certainly not the strongest in Europe.
Lyon count on Lovren and hopefully Gonalons to recover for this match and they will be at full strength. Ajax miss as many as three strikers, Sightorsson, De Jong and Bulykin. Their winger D Boerrigter will also miss this match along with defender Boilesen. Ebecillio could play upfront, maybe Lodeiro, maybe C Erikssen, maybe Sulejman or T Janssen, but in general Ajax look much weakened offensively for this game. Their leaking defence I have mentioned. On the whole unrest at the Ajax football club at the moment.
Make or break game for Lyon. They have to win this match and the Ajax injury situation has made their task looking quite easy. Very likely home win.
Chris
