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Midweek Footballby Ben, last updated 2007-03-12 22:00:04Pinnacle PreviewChampions Sweating on Return of Terry Plenty has been written about the importance of John Terry to Chelsea football club, but the abysmal defending shown by the current Premiership champions in Sunday's FA Cup clash with Spurs spoke volumes. Terry watched from the sidelines as his side conceded three soft first-half goals, and came perilously close to ending their long unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge. Defensive midfielder, Claude Makele, was also absent as Mourinho declared his intentions to avoid a replay. That ploy failed, and there should be a return to a more familiar formation at the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday night, as Chelsea look to close the gap on Man Utd back to six points, with Terry marshalling the defence. Chelsea have won four straight league games without conceding, and come up against a Man City side in freefall. The Citizens tamely exited the FA Cup on Sunday - their fifth straight defeat - and are just one place above the drop-zone. They have also failed to score in the previous four meetings with Chelsea, losing the last three, so it would come as something as a shock should they turn over the Londoners. www.pinnaclesports.com rate Chelsea favourites 2.01 (-1), with Man City 1.917 (+1). Arsenal Hamstrung By Injuries & Suspensions Arsenal's season is going downhill fast. The Gunners have lost out on three Cup competitions in quick succession, as well as the services of captain, Thierry Henry, for the remainder of the season through injury, who joins Tomas Rosicky and Robin Van Persie on the treatment table. The brawl at the end of the Carling Cup defeat also robs them of the suspended Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure for the trip to Villa Park on Wednesday night, where the Londoners will look to pick themselves up. The only target Arsene Wenger has left for the season, is to ensure the club's qualification next year's Champions League, which could be endangered if their league form drops off. Arsenal however have an excellent record playing away to Aston Villa, unbeaten in the last seven encounters. Villa's season has taken a trajectory similar to their opponents, with early promise fizzling out, taking the club below mid-table. The Villans have at least had 11 days rest, so unlike Arsenal should be fresh, and eager to build on the three consecutive clean sheets at Villa Park. www.pinnaclesports.com give Villa a half-ball start on their Asian Handicap 1.833 (+0.5), with Arsenal favourites 2.10 (-0.5). Premiership sides Well Placed for UEFA Cup Progress Both Spurs and Newcastle came out on the right side of high-scoring UEFA Cup first-leg round one knock-out ties. Newcastle eased past Dutch outfit, AZ Alkmaar, 4-2, scoring all their goals in a pulsating first half, and suggesting they should have no fears for the return leg. AZ will have no alternative but to play an open attacking game, searching for two goals, which could leave them open to a sucker punch from the speedy Newcastle duo of Obafemi Martins and Kieron Dyer. The Geordies are unbeaten so far in the competition and www.pinnaclesports.com rate them 1.971 (+0.5) with Alkmaar 1.952 (-0.5). It would be no surprise to discover a spate of recent heart-attacks in North London. Spurs have scored 20 goals in their last six games, with their last three real roller-coasters producing a 4-3 win at West Ham, 3-2 victory at Braga (in the first leg of this competition) and a 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge in Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final. The comfort of home advantage should help the Lilywhites, with a one goal advantage and three crucial away goals giving them plenty of breathing space. Braga have only won three times away from home in the Portuguese Liga this term, and have found goals hard to come by, scoring only nine times in twelve games, which does not augur well with the side needing to score at least twice. www.pinnaclesports.com price Spurs 2.00 (-1 & -1.5) with Braga 1.926 (+1 & +1.5). ← Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 Next → |
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