Champions League Round 2 - Arsenal vs Porto

In normal times, Arsenal would have been the clear favourites when playing at home. Still, after their shock 2-1 home defeat to Hull, Arsenal’s self confidence is as low as it gets. Will this give Porto the chance to cause another upset? We find it hard to believe, use BetUknow's widget to place your fantasy bets.

The Merseyside derby & The Disappointments derby

The Merseyside derby takes place this Saturday with both teams striving for the win. Liverpool will try to compensate for their embarrassing home draw with Stoke, while Everton will try to push further up the table. This brings me to believe the match will end in a draw.Let me know what you're thinking.

In another match, Portsmouth and Tottenham face each other for a crucial match. Both teams have to come out with a win from this one, as this is another opportunity for them to finally kick start their seasons. Both teams are disappointing - Tottenham brought many new faces to White Hart Lane, but still they find themselves at the bottom of the table with only 2 points out of 15 possible. Portsmouth can’t say they are having a good time either. Pompey started the season with 0-4 defeat at Stamford Bridge but then managed a good 3-0 away win over Everton. Going up? Not necessarily. Their last couple of matches saw them scoring no goals, while conceding no less than 10, allowing Manchester City to run rampant. Who will win? Or will they share the spoils?

Chelsea vs. Manchester United

The two candidates to win the league title face each other for the first time this season, today, at Stamford Bridge. Needless to say that both Chelsea and Manchester United need this win from the obvious reasons. Chelsea would like the win as it would be a sweet revenge, while in the same time – making a clear statement. At the same time, Manchester United have to win if… well, they have no other choice after the mediocre start of the season.
Chelsea have made an excellent start to the season under new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. As a result of their good form they have won 10 out of possible 12 points, including an impressive 3-1 away win over Manchester City. Their good form brought some good results off the pitch, as the tribunal accepted John Terry’s appeal and he will be eligible for the match.
On the other side of the pitch Manchester United are lying in 15th place with only 4 points. Things aren’t looking so good at Old Trafford at the moment. Dimitar Berbatov is finding it hard to blend in and during this period of time, The Red Devils lost at Anfield and finished their first European match of the season with a dull 0-0 home draw. Furthermore their Centre Back Vidic, who got sent off in their last match, will not be playing as he, unlike Terry, had no chance even to appeal.
So this leaves us with Rolando… He’s got the talent, but it will be interesting to see him after the collapse of his transfer to Real Madrid and the minor operation he had. He will most probably be man-marked by Scolari, who sure knows how to deal with him…
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The battle for the fourth place?

Monday sees Tottenham playing Aston Villa at White Heart Lane, in what might have been a battle for the 4th place. After all, both teams were touted to finish high up the table, but at this stage, none of the two are living up to the expectations. So, Spurs come with one point out of 9, including an embarrassing home defeat to Sunderland, while Villa’s tally is 4 points, after their shock defeat at Stoke.
People might say that the cause for all this is the noise surrounding the Spurs, so now, with the Berbatov's saga coming to an end, it’s time for Juande Ramos supposedly quality signings to prove just how good they are.
At the same time, there was a lot of noise surrounding Villa, due to Gareth Barry’s transfer saga, but now, as this became irrelevant, Villa can return to concentrating on their football. Lucky for them, they have recently acquired the services of James Milner to help them with this.
So now, with all the noises out of the picture, we should have a relatively quiet match… Both teams know they need this win and both managers have no Injury worries.
The only question left unanswered is which team will emerge as winner at the end of the day.

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The same show – different actors

Just like we thought, England's match against Andorra was far from brilliant and only Joe Cole saved the nation some blushes, much the same as Gerrard did in their last encounter. There is no doubt this is way below par, as even Andorra's manager David Rodrigo said he would win the match with style if he had the chance to change seats with Capello.
Today, in the most interesting WC 2010 qualifying match, the three lions return to Zagreb, Croatia. Steve McLaren’s place is taken by Fabio cappelo and David James takes Paul Robinson’s spot. This leaves only a couple of questions open: Should it be enough to take points from the Croats? Will history repeat itself (like Saturday match with Andorra) and England are about to lose?
Today, Capello is facing his first big test in what might be his most important match of the campaign. England national team is one of the most skillful, talented and strongest teams in the world and in my opinion, it’s up to the manager whether they win or lose. As simple as that. Therefore, England must have a strong manager who can unite the players.
I'm not sure David Rodrigo could do the job, but I'm pretty sure Slaven Bilic would. I don’t think England can take three points from today's match Do you?
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England - Back To The Future

In the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, England had the chance to prove their might against strong Croatia and puny Andorra. Well, proving their might is not exactly right, as only Steven Gerrard late opener in the match with Andorra saved England some blushes. The matches with Croatia were even worse, as the Croats beat the Three Lions twice and left them out of the tournament, handing Russia with the second place.
WC 2010 qualifying group 6 is quite similar to the one of the Euro. The first match of the campaign finds England away at Andorra, but this time Gerrard is missing due to a groin surgery, so someone else will have to score that all important first goal. The second match, four days later, is away at Croatia… hmmm… will history repeat itself? Not to mention that the Russians were “replaced” by the close neighbors the Ukraine to add to England’s misery.
So, what is England’s prospect for WC 2010??? Quite frankly, I believe they will qualify to the 2010 WC, but it won't be easy, as this time the 2nd place is only a playoff spot. Regardless, according to England's last friendly against the Czech Republic I'm quite sure the fans won't enjoy the “beautiful game” and will have to settle with some hard working players with minimum finesse.


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