Monday, November 21, 2011

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22.11. (Tue) 18:00 CSKA Moskva - Lille Metropole

Eden Hazard - Lille (Getty Images)
Getty Images

PROBABLE LINE-UPS



CSKA MOSCOW

Gabulov
V.Berezutski, Ig'vich, Nababkin, A.Berezutski
Aldonin, Mamaev, Honda, Cauna
Dzagoev
Vagner Love

LILLE


Landreau
Debuchy, Rozenhal, Chejdou, BonnartBalmont, Mavuba, Gueye
Hazard, Sow, Payet

Leonid Slutskiy will welcome back striker Vagner Love after he missed the 2-1 defeat to Rubin Kazan at the weekend due to suspension, and he will likely be a straight replacement for Seydou Doumbia, who will be sidelined courtesy of his red card on matchday four. Zoran Tosic's knee ligament injury sustained in training at the beginning of November is likely to keep him out until the new year.

Igor Akinfeev, Tomas Necid and Mark Gonzalez are all long-term absentees, but playmaker Keisuke Honda has made his comeback after three months out with a knee problem.

For the French side, Benoit Pedretti missed Friday's stalemate against Toulouse due to a hip injury, and may miss out on the clash. Florent Balmont returned from a knee injury to play 90 minutes in the same match, and is likely to retain his place. Marko Basa has been struggling with a shoulder injury in recent weeks and may once again be forced to sit out.

Rudi Garcia can, however, welcome back defender Mathieu Debuchy, who was suspended at the weekend.

DID YOU KNOW?

  • CSKA's seven-game unbeaten run came to an end when Rubin Kazan defeated them in their last outing. Striker Seydou Doumbia, who is suspended for this match, missed a second-half penalty.
  • Doumbia, however, did convert in the first half - taking his tally to 11 goals in his last seven outings.
  • Before this season Lille had faced Russian opposition just once before, taking on Zenit St Petersburg in the 2004-05 Uefa Cup group stage.
  • Lille have conceded 12 goals away from the Stade Lille-Metropole in all competitions this season.
  • The Ligue 1 champions have lost just one of their last 14 away matches in all competitions - versus Inter on matchday three.
  • Striker Moussa Sow is on the shortlist for the Caf African Footballer of the Year award.
Prediction
Lille have struggled to come to terms with the step up to Champions League football, while CSKA are difficult to overcome on home turf. The Russians will be within touching distance of the next round with victory, and they should have enough, even without suspended striker Doumbia.
Editor's Prediction
PFC CSKA Moskva 2-1 Lille

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22-11-2011 Tuesday Preview

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
Saturday, November 19, 2011

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20.11. (Sun) 20:00 Atletico Madrid vs Levante

Liga BBVA: Levante-Real Sociedad: Arouna Kone; David Zurutuza
Getty

PROBABLE LINEUPS

ATLETICO MADRID

Courtois
Lopez, Godin, Dominguez, Filipe
Gabi, Tiago, Diego Turan
Pizzi, Adrian
LEVANTE

Munua
Venta, Ballesteros, Nano, Juanfran
Torres, Iborra
Valdo, Barkero, Juanlu
Kone

Levante has been brought back down to earth following back-to-back defeats at the hands of Osasuna and Valencia, with some suggesting the Liga minnows have been finally found out. Nevertheless, the Valencia-based club still occupy a highly respectable fourth position in the league table, a mere five points off leaders Real Madrid.

Martinez has few injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s game with defender Juanfran expected to shake off an ankle sprain and striker Carlos Aranda also likely to recover from a minor knock. Left-back Asier Del Horno could sit out with a leg injury.

Meanwhile for hosts Atletico Madrid, a disappointing start to the season transformed into a mini-crisis after a 3-2 loss to lowly Getafe. Coach Gregorio Manzano has since received more bad news in the form of an injury to in-form striker Radamel Falcao. The Colombian suffered a strain to the abductor muscle on international duty and will miss out on Sunday. Former Portuguese U21 international Pizzi may get a chance to impress.

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Atletico Madrid holds the edge in recent head-to-head meetings with Levante (W6 D1 L3).
  • Injured striker Falcao is Atletico’s top scorer this season with seven goals.
  • Atletico are known by the nickname Los Colchoneros (the mattress makers) due to its home kits sporting the same colours as old-fashioned mattresses.
  • Levante’s last victory at the Vicente Calderon stadium was a 1-0 triumph in the Copa del Rey in October 2006.
  • At a combined age of almost 170, the east coast club has the oldest defence (back four and goalkeeper) in La Liga.
  • Levante was founded in 1909, a full decade before the founding of local rivals Valencia.
Prediction
Despite their inconsistent form this season, Atletico Madrid remain a difficult team to beat at home and they will looking to respond after a morale-sapping defeat against Getafe. The smart money is on Atletico getting at least a point out of this fixture.
Editor's Prediction
Atletico Madrid 1-1 Levante

20-11-2011 Bran ka Evropi - NIKOLA ĐURĐIĆ (HAUGESUND)

MOJ TIP
BRAN – LILESTREM     1
Fredrikštad – Alesund     x
Molde – Sarpsborg     3+
Od Grenland – Sogndal     0-2
Stabek – Haugesund     x2
Stromsgodset – Valerenga     0-2
Tromso – Rozenborg     1
VIKING – START     1

 Fudbaleri Brana žele da se popnu stepenik više i zauzmu poziciju koja vodi u Evropu. Zadatak ne bi trebalo da bude težak, pošto u goste dolazi Lilestrem, koji je rasprodao ekipu i smenio trenera. Naruku im ide i to što se u ovom kolu „sudaraju“ direktni konkurenti, Tromso i Rozenborg. Domaćin mora da iskoristi ovu šansu, kec je sigurica

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20.11. (Sun) 17:00 Chelsea vs Liverpool

Pre Match
November 20, 2011 4:00 PM GMT
Stamford Bridge — London
Referee:‬ M. Atkinson‎

Premier League Preview: Chelsea v Liverpool

The Stamford Bridge side look to maintain the pressure on the top two while also making sure that the Reds don't close the gap from below them in the Premier League

Bet: Returns: Chelsea £18.30 Draw £34.00 Liverpool £45.00 William Hill

By Matthew Harold


PROBABLE LINEUPS


CHELSEA


Cech
Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Cole
Ramires, Lampard, Mikel
Sturridge, Torres, Mata

LIVERPOOL

 
Reina
Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Enrique
Kuyt, Lucas, Adam, Downing
Suarez, Carroll

Chelsea should be able to call upon the services of Daniel Sturridge, with the forward having recovered from a knock, while Didier Drogba should also be available after recovering from a minor arm operation.

The only player definitely unavailable for the Stamford Bridge side is Michael Essien, who is still recovering from knee surgery, which will keep him out until the New Year.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher will be available for Kenny Dalglish’s side after recovering from a calf injury, while Luis Suarez is also fit after being rested by Uruguay in midweek with a minor back problem.

The Reds' skipper Steven Gerrard is still out as he battles back to full fitness after suffering from an ankle infection.

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Chelsea lost their last home game when Arsenal hit five past them at Stamford Bridge to inflict a second successive Premier League defeat on Andre Villas-Boas' side. It was their only home reverse of the season so far.
  • England midfielder Frank Lampard is the Blues' top goalscorer in the Premier League this season, having claimed six goals so far.
  • Last time the two sides met Liverpool claimed all three points with Chelsea’s summer signing Raul Meireles (pictured right) claiming the winner for the Reds.
  • Liverpool have managed to claim three of their five wins so far this season away from home, with victories at Arsenal, Everton and West Brom.
  • The two sides will come face-to-face at Stamford Bridge twice in nine days, as they meet each other in the League Cup.

Prediction
With the sides only separated by three points in the Premier League table, this should be an extremely tight game and with former Liverpool stars Raul Meireles and Fernando Torres available for Chelsea it will add more spice to the fixture.
Editor's Prediction
Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool