European Football
Sir Alex Ferguson takes a young squad to Germany as Man Utd take on Wolfsburg in the final round of Champions League matches.
A depleted squad including 15 injuries and illness’ means that youngsters Magnus Eikrem, Cameron Stewart, Matty James and Oliver Norwood could all feature at some point in the game. Qualification is already guaranteed for the Reds but they will be looking for at least a point to confirm their spot as group winners and in theory get an easier pick of matches in the 1st knockout round. One player who has travelled with the squad is young French winger Gabriel Obertan. The 20-year-old has made a handful of impressive appearances since overcoming an injury in the summer and is 18/1 to score first in Germany.
United don’t have the greatest of records against German sides though and have picked up just one win in seven trips in the Champions League. The hosts may see this as a good time to play United and look to win 1-0 or by the two goal margin which will see them win the group (as long as CSKA Moscow do not win). For this reason the 3-1 to Wolfsburg score line available at 14/1 could be a good bet.
Arsenal have breezed through their group with four wins and one draw from their first five games and travel to Greece to face Olympiakos. The Greek side need a point to finish second and confirm qualification while, like Ferguson, Arsene Wenger has already confirmed that he will be playing a youthful side. The Gunners have picked up just one win in four trips to Greece since Wenger’s arrival at Arsenal and that was against Panathinaikos in 1998. Meanwhile their opponents are unbeaten in all competitions at home this season and will be looking to put in a performance after a fairly dismal showing in north London on game day two. After breaking his Gunners duck in the Carling Cup with a sensational strike against Liverpool, young Spanish starlet Fran Merida is 14/1 to open the scoring. Despite the young squad Wenger’s side have shown enough in recent performances to suggest they can see off Olympiakos and a 3-1 win at 35/1 is an attractive price.
Having been dumped out of the competition due to Fiorentina’s previous result against Lyon, Liverpool will be looking for their revenge when the Italians come to town on Wednesday.
The Reds have scored in their last 12 games in the Champions League and have always beaten Italian opponents at Anfield in the competition. Despite being on a run of poor form they are also unbeaten in six, although four were draws and will be looking to maintain this run. The Viola though are also on a fairly impressive run of their own with four back-to-back Champions League victories, the best current run alongside Bordeaux.
Former Chelsea man Adrian Mutu is expected to start for the visitors and at 13/2 to open the scoring is worth backing seeing as Fiorentina need at least a point to win the group while Liverpool will finish in third spot regardless of the result. The visitors are 20/1 to end the Reds Champions League campaign with a 2-0 defeat.
Chelsea host Apoel Nicosia having confirmed their spot as group winners. In a fairly spectacular home run which has seen them win 11 out of 11 in all competitions and concede just one goal (in the opening day’s 2-1 win over Hull) you would expect them to continue this on Tuesday. Apoel have managed just two goals in the competition to date and I don’t see this changing and it depends how ruthless the Blues are in front of goal as to what this final score could be in my opinion. A 5-0 Chelsea win at 25/1 could be the value bet, especially if the hosts grab a couple of early goals and Nicolas Anelka at 7/2 to open the scoring is normally heading the goal scoring queue’s when Chelsea score in Europe.
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