BETvertiser Blog

Arsenal - Chelsea

ManU - Liverpool

The English soccer fans will be spoiled this weekend with two great derbys. First Emirates stadium will host the clash between “The Gunners” and “The Blues, and then “The Reds” will visit “The Devils” on the “Theatre of Dreams”. What a weekend!!!

The 4 teams are currently occupying the first four position in Premier League, are part of the seven clubs who have been members of the Premiership for every season since its inception. The four teams have won together 50 league titles along the history, being the most prestigious teams in England.

The most important inter-clubs European competition has reached its knock-out stage. The draws for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup Draws for knock-out rounds will be held on 21st December.

While UEFA Cup group stage is not over yet, with one match day left to be played, the 16 teams who will be present in Champions League spring are already known: Porto, Liverpool, Chelsea, Schalke, Real Madrid, Olympiakos, AC Milan, Celtic, Barcelona, Lyon, Manchester, Roma, Internazionale, Fenerbahce, FC Sevilla and Arsenal.

The teams who occupied the 3rd position in UEFA Champions League group stage will be present in 2008 spring in UEFA Cup. These teams are Marseille, Rosenborg, Werder, Benfica, Rangers, Sporting PSV and Slavia Prague.

Two magnificent evenings for betting, with 7 winning predictions made by BETvertiser for the Champions League matches.

Group A

1. FC Porto 8p -1g

2. Olempique 7p +1g

3. Liverpool 7p +9g

4. Besiktas 6p -9g

In the last 2 matches from Group A, Liverpool will travel to Marseilles and Porto will host Besiktas. All 4 teams still have chances to qualify for the next round of UEFA Champions League, and 3 of them stand chances to miss both UEFA Cup and Champions League.

Livepool needs all 3 points from their away match at Olempique, and Besiktas are in the same situation. Both team playing at home need one point to get to the next round. While for Besiktas anything but a victory represents being out of Europe, for Liverpool a point or even a defeat at OM could represent UEFA.

Our suggestions for tonight games:

OM - Livepool 2 0-4

Porto - Besiktas Under 2.5 2-0

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Group B

1. Chelsea 11p +7g

2. Rosenborg 7p -1g

3. Schalke 5p -2g

4. Valencia 4p -4g

In group B we already have the name of one team qualified for the next stage, which is Chelsea. And I dare to say that we also have the name of the team who goes home - Valencia.

While Schalke needs a victory on home ground against Rosenborg to advance to the next round, Valencia plays at Chelsea, and no matter the result, Schalke’s 3 points will send Valencia home.

Our suggestion for group B:

Schalke - Rosenborg 1 3-1

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Group C

1. Real Madrid 8p +2g

2. Olympiakos 8p +1g

3. Werder 6p -2g

4. Lazio 5p -1g

One of the most interesting groups, with Real already qualified, and with Olympiakos and Werder fighting tonight in Pireus for the second qualifying place. Werder needs all 3 points to advance, while for the home team a draw will be more than enough.

In the other match from this group Lazio will visit Madrid, and a victory here could take them in UEFA Cup, if Werder doesn’t manage to win at Olympiakos.

Our picks for Group C:

Olympiakos - Werder Over 2.5 3-0

Real Madrid - Lazio Over 2.5 3-1

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Group E

1. Barcelona 11p +7g

2. Rangers 7p +1g

3. Lyon 7p -2g

4. Stuttgart 3p -6g

If the match between Barcelona and Stuttgart will be a friendly one as one team is already qualified and the other is already out of the competition, the match from Glasgow between Rangers and Lyon will be the main attraction of the evening.

After losing 3-0 the first match at home against the Scots, Lyon needs all three points tomorrow to advance to the next stage. And we think they will get it!

Our pick for Group E:

Rangers - Lyon 2     0-3

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Group F

1. Manchester 15p +9g

2. Roma 10p +5g

3. Sporting 4p +2g

4. Dynamo 0p -12g

With no stakes for the matches, Group F will represent no interest for us, so we will skip these games. Manchester and Roma in the next stage, and Sporting in UEFA.

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Group G

1. Inter 12p +7g

2. Fenerbahce 8p 0g

3. PSV 7p -5g

4. CSKA 1p -2g

PSV will go to Milano for a last attempt to advance to next stage. However, a victory at Inter could not be enough for them as Fenerbahce will host CSKA, and a victory at Istambul could take Fener in next round. Not much to say here, just our prediction for the Istambul match:

Fenerbahce - CSKA 1     3-1

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Group H

1. Sevilla 12p +4g

2. Arsenal 10p +9g

3. Slavia 5p -8g

4. Steaua 1p -5g

Not much to say about this group - Arsenal and Sevilla will progress, Slavia will go to UEFA Cup, and Steaua will watch the rest of the tournament from home. No bets.

Atletico Madrid climbed on the second place behind Madrid rivals, after defeating Getafe 1-0 on home ground. Forlan scored the only goal of the game in the 20th minute, but the interesting moments happened in the second half, when in only 13 minutes the referee sent out 2 players from each team: Aguero and Reyes from Atletico, and Licht and Abondanzieri from Getafe.

In the other matches played today in Primera, Valladolid lost 1-0 at Almeria, Recreativo won on Levante’s ground 2-0 and both Andaluzian teams won, Betis 1-0 at Villareal and FC Sevilla 3-1 at home against Murcia.

Jermain Defoe scored the victory goal in the 83rd minute, and brought the Spurs’ third victory this season. White Hart Lane first celebrated Cimbonda’s goal in the 45th minute for a 1-0 at half time. The second half started with Bianchi’s goal, and Spurs fans thought they will watch again the same old disappointing scenario. But Defoe’s goal right after Ireland from Man City was sent out, brought the smile on Spurs fans, who got the opportunity to celebrate a victory for only the third time this year. The three points obtained today took Tottenham on the 16th place.

In another match played today in Premiership, Bolton defeated Wigan 4-1 in the relegation derby.

Even though the Scots lost their closing match on San Siro, the team managed by Gordon Strachan qualified for the next Champions League stage. Celtics obtained the qualification thanks to Benfica’s success in Ukraine. Cardozo scored twice for the Lusitans in the first part of the match, and Lucescu’s boys couldn’t score the 2 goals which could have taken them in UEFA Cup.

Results 04.12.2007 

AC Milan - Celtic FC 1-0

Shakhtar - Benfica SL 1-2

Standings

1. AC Milan - Champions League

2. Celtic FC - Champions League

3. Benfica SL - UEFA Cup

4. Shakhtar - out

Group D will be the first one to conclude, with AC Milan having to pack for FIFA Clubs World Cup in Japan. The last match from the group stage will bring to Milano a team who needs 1 point to qualify for the next stage: Celtic.

In the other match from Group D, Benfica will host Shakhtar. The options are very mixed up, and at this moment all teams beside AC Milan have chances to qualify for next UEFA Champions League stage, fall in UEFA Cup, or stay home.

Ronaldo managed to score twice in the game against Fulham, to make 40,000 Red Devils’ fans happy. The three points won today take Sir Alex Ferguson’s team on the second place, 3 points behind the leader, Arsenal.

In another match played this evening in England, Scunthorpe and Blackpool ended 1-1 in a match counting for the Championship day 20th. Blackpool gathered 20 points so far, and is 4 points ahead the last relegation place occupied at this moment by QPR.

CFR Cluj won 2-0 the Cluj Derby against Universitatea, and extended their advance to 11 points over the 2nd place Unirea Urziceni who lost 0-2 on home ground against Dacia Mioveni.

The team trained by Ioan Andone is still with out defeat, and the distance between CFR and the teams from Bucharest seems to be decisive.  The last time a team out of Bucharest won the title was in 1991, when Universitatea Craivoa won the title in Steaua’s detriment, thanks to the goal difference.