Champions League groups decided

The draw for the group stages of the Champions League has been made and it’s a mixed bag for the Premier League teams competing in the competition.

However, all four English sides will be confident of progressing and this is backed up in the Champions League odds.

Manchester United will face a battle of Britain when they take on Glasgow Rangers in what is sure to be two exciting matches.

United have made two of the previous three finals in the Champions League and Sir Alex Ferguson will be looking for his third Champions League trophy this season.

As well as Rangers, United will face a tough couple of games against Spanish side Valencia. Ferguson’s team will also face the unknown prospect of Turkish champions Bursaspor, who will be making their Champions League debut.

Chelsea face a tricky but winnable group after being drawn against Marseille, Spartak Moscow and Slovenian side MSK Zilina. Marseille were crowned Ligue 1 champions at the end of last season. Spartak are the other strong team in the group as they finished second in the Russian Premier League. MSK Zilina will be another unknown quantity in the tournament but Chelsea won’t be worrying too much about qualifying from the group.

Arsenal have been handed the kindest draw out of their rivals as Braga, FK Partizan and Shakhtar Donetsk are all winnable matches for Arsene Wenger and his team. The draw will mean a return to the Emirates for Shakhtar’s new striker Eduardo who was signed from Arsenal earlier in the summer.

Spurs have been given no favours in what will be their first experience of the tournament. They have been put in possibly the hardest group of them all. Inter Milan, Werder Bremen and FC Twente will all provide tough tests for Harry Redknapp and his team.

Meanwhile, Liverpool and Manchester City – who are amongst the favourites in the Europa League odds – have been handed tricky groups in Friday’s draw. The Reds will face Steaua Bucharest, Napoli and Utrecht whilst City will come up against Juventus, Salzburg and Lech Poznan.

Irina Shayk WAG of the Week

Irina Shayk is the current WAG of £80m footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, she is also a Russian fashion model known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in 2007 and as the face of lingerie brand Intimissimi.

However, Irina, who has been dating the Winker since early 2010, made a “shock confession” in an interview by admitting that despite her superstar boyfriend being a world-famous footballer, she’s not actually a fan of football.
While Irina wouldn’t discuss her relationship with the 25-year-old footballer, she laughed: ‘I’m not a fan of soccer, for sure not.’

Well, we are a fan of you “for sure”….

Irina Shayk

August Manager of the Month

August Manager of the Month award goes to DaveyDiamond, who gained 95 points during the 30 Premier League predictions. £20 prize on the way.

yanksout! (was handofgod) came 2nd after a 32 place storm up the league, having correctly predicted no less then 4 of the 6 Saturday fixtures.
Richardh & scullyfc shared the (non-existent) bronze medal for August, both picking up 90 points.

Week 3 winner was yanksout! on 52 points, with Barca-loner 2nd on 46 points and pgods1965 3rd placed on 45 points.

No Premier League games this week due to Internationals – next games are 11th September.

Good Luck
Predict Football

Week 3 Predictions

This weekend will see the final Premier League action for August, and our first Manager of the Month prize will be announced.

The following prizes have been calculated for the 2010/2011 season :

Manager of the Month award – £20 (given to the player who gains the highest amount of points in a single calendar month)
1st Prize – £180 – to the overall winner at the end of the season.
2nd Prize – £70 – to the runner up.
3rd Prize – £30 – instead of a bronze medal.

The first 2 weekends of action have thrown up four 6-0 results, unsurprisingly the predictions for week 3 are reflecting that with a 6-0 win for Chelsea against Stoke, and a 5-0 win for Spurs (are you mad) against Wigan already predicted by someone. I think the best chance of another 6-0 romp is likely to happen at Old Trafford this weekend.

Get those predictions in…..

http://www.PredictFootball.co.uk

How exactly can we improve Premier League financing?

Money In recent years, one phrase has emerged to become a buzzword for English Premier League betting pundits: ‘big spenders’. Yet, with new UEFA financing rules that determine eligibility to take part in European competitions soon to take effect, and with teams aware that the recession has seen a huge drop in demand for season tickets at the majority of clubs, could we finally be on the cusp of seeing the best league in the world also become the best run?

Take for example a new initiative by the Arsenal Supporters Trust. Instead of taking part in marches, sniping from the sidelines, or waving Norwich City scarves instead of their own team’s colours, Gunners fans have worked with the board (including members of which the fanbase is hostile to) in order to implement a new scheme that they hope will eventually see Arsenal fans having a real say in how the football club is run.

This new scheme sees Arsenal fans being able to acquire ‘fanshares’, 100 of which account for a share in Arsenal Football Club. With Arsenal shares trading for anything up to £10,000, the £100 required to buy a fanshare (which are then clubbed together by the supporters’ trust to create whole shares) means that fans can make as big, or as little, a contribution as they like, opening up the running of the club to all fans regardless of wealth.

Whilst it is in its early days, the scheme has attracted praise from the Premier League, UEFA, those who analyse football odds and the current UK government to name but a few. Should this scheme prove to be successful, we may well see it utilised by clubs across the country, helping
to bring the best league in the world closer to its fans.

Week 2 Results

Another difficult weekend of football results to predict, saw 3, 6-0 wins and 38 goals across the 10 matches.

The overall joint winners of week 2 were jonnyeuro and hrhalison who both managed 32 points.
HalfPryce and Dave came in joint runners up for the week on 30 points, and TT United took 3rd most on 28 points.

After the second round, manageroftheyear and davey diamond sit at the top of the table on 58 points each, with SullyFC just 2 points behind them.

Week 2 Football Predictions

This weekend sees high flying Blackpool head to the Emirates. Will there be another surprise win for the Premier League new boys ? So far all predictions are for a home win.

Spurs head to Stoke where they hope to put the Young Boys behind them (grin), a 2-1 away win is the current favourite prediction.

48% of predictions reckon that Birmingham will draw 1-1 with Blackburn, and 66% of predictions think West Ham will get their first win of the season at home to Bolton.

Plenty of people foresee another barrage of goals for Chelski as they head to Wigan, and in possibly the biggest game of the round, Man City appear to be favourites to beat Liverpool when they meet on Monday night.

Get predicting…

Week 1 Review

The first weekend of the Premier League saw Davey Diamond take top spot, having correctly predicted the final score of 3 matches, and off to a flying start with 43 points.

Fish and Chips, Scully FC and Wards Leroys shared 2nd place with 36 points, leaving manageroftheyear with the 3rd highest haul of the weekend on 35 points.

Next Matches this Saturday at 3pm.
Get those predictions in….

Good Luck

Imogen Thomas WAG of the Week

The 2003 Miss Wales winner shot to fame in 2006 when she graced British TV screens by appearing in Big Brother.
Taking the now conventional route from reality TV to general celebrity, Imogen was a regular on the London nightclub scene after her TV appearance and presumably bumped into Jermaine Defoe one night.

Punch her name into a Google Images search and find two brilliant reasons why she caught the wandering eye of Mr Defoe.

Imogen Thomas

Blackburn go with youth

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce has made it clear he will be focusing on bringing youth players through this season.

The Lancashire club have an abundance of talent coming through their ranks at Ewood Park and, added to the seasoned pros at the club, they could help the side overachieve this term.

Despite have one of the lowest transfer budgets in the Premier League, Allardyce’s side finished in the top half of the table last campaign. Some people made Blackburn betting tips for relegation this season, but they proved they are no pushovers when beating Everton last weekend.

This season will see a similar squad to last season with the only change so far being in the striking department. Young Argentinean Franco Di Santo has gone back to Chelsea and promising striker Mame Diouf has been brought in from Manchester United on a season-long loan. Diouf is highly thought of at Old Trafford and will be a good bet to score more than Di Santo’s one league goal during his time at the club.

Perhaps the hottest prospect at Blackburn is English centre-half Phil Jones. The defender’s performances last season caught the eye of some of the Premier League big boys – Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Spurs were all reported to have sent scouts to watch the 18-year-old. 21-year-old French midfielder Steven N’Zonzi was brought to the club for less than £1 million last summer and went to win the club’s Player of the Year award after a brilliant first season in England. There are other exciting prospects at the club in the shape of Swedish left-back Martin Olsson and Canadian forward David Hoilett who recently put pen to paper on a new two-and-a-half-year contract.

Croatian striker Niko Kalinic is expected to improve on his poor form in the last campaign, when he only scored twice. The 22-year-old has started this season well, scoring in the first league game of the season against Everton. Much is expected of the talented forward who has shown glimpses of real quality since arriving from Hajduk Spit at the beginning of last season. Of course, the Andy Gray betting tips won’t give him a chance of being top scorer, but if he can bag ten goals that would be a very useful return.

The experienced players at the club will be integral to Blackburn’s success this season. Captain Ryan Nelson has been one of the most consistent centre-backs in the Premier League over the last five seasons. He will be ably assisted by fellow senior players Paul Robinson, David Dunn, Michel Salgado and Brett Emerton who all have bundles of experience in the top flight. With both the talented youngsters and experienced players in the side, Blackburn will prove a very awkward opponent this season.

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