Why Barcelona Beat Manchester United in This Year's Champion's League Final - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

FC Barcelona and Manchester United FC went to battle at Wembley for the 2010/2011 Champions League on 28 May, the Spanish giants running the English champion's ragged in a 3-1 victory.

QPR versus Chelsea; Manchester United against Man City. When down at the bookies, you would think that the first scoreline would be in favour of Chelsea with maybe a draw at best for the Manchester derby. But, as the final whistle blew there were many gasps of shock at what had just happened.

Liverpool is reportedly monitoring Lyon defender Dejan Lovren in their pursuit of summer reinforcements.
According to The Telegraph, the 21-year-old Croatia international is on the radar of the Reds as they look to add a centre-back to their ranks during the transfer window.
Liverpool had made an attempt to sign Blackburn teenager Phil Jones and, despite Rovers accepting an offer from the Merseysiders, the 19-year-old opted to join Manchester United.

Birmingham City were shocked today to get an email from Alex McLeish resigning from his position as Birmingham manager:

A statement on the Birmingham website said:

"Birmingham City Football Club can confirm that Alex McLeish has resigned as manager. Acting chairman Peter Pannu received an e-mail resignation from McLeish earlier today while away on business in Amsterdam.

The supposedly imminent arrival of Andrea Villas-Boas at Chelsea could finally mean some transfer movement involving two of Porto's most sought after players.

Villas-Boas has emerged from nowhere to become a 1/7 bookies favourite to take over at the Bridge after a season in which he emulated Jose Mourinho by taking his Porto side to a historic treble.

Guardian experts give their predictions for the 2011-12 season

Manchester United fancied to win their 20th title, while QPR are strongly tipped to go straight back down Who will win the Premier League? Kevin McCarra A well-equipped and fairly settled Manchester United, even if Wesley Sneijder never arrives.

Arsenal begin their Champions League campaign on tonight against Udinese and despite missing suspended Robin van Persie, injured Jack Wilshire and Samir Nasri , the bookies still believe it will be a relatively easy victory for the Gunners.

Unibet, who are offering a no risk first bet promotion to arsenalinsider readers, make Arsene Wenger's side 1.

Weekend Betting Preview 20th-22nd August

So the first round of Premiership games has gotten underway, unless you are an Everton or Spurs fans as we took our first glimpse of those teams looking to challenge for the title.

It was business as usual for the Champions with a 2-1 win at West Brom while their Blue neighbours Manchester City strolled past Swansea City 4-0, thanks to a impressive debut by Sergio Aguero.

I found this video, produced by the Qatar bid, to be a fascinatingly constructed piece of work, transforming Zidane's biography into an endorsement of the need for a Middle Eastern World Cup. In it, Zidane returns to his childhood home and talks about his career, and repeatedly refers to the difficulties he faced because of "his origins" as a child of Algerian immigrants.

So Arsenal find themselves still competing on all four fronts, with the final of the Carling Cup up first at the end of February.

Sports Betting is an ever growing market place with every major sporting event fully covered.

I know of one chap who resides in North London (no links to the club) who made over £200,000 in 2010 from punting on Football alone.

By Chris Wright

Wait...what? Says here in the Guardian that Craig Bellamy (yes, that Craig Bellamy) has been installed as the bookies' favourite to take over at Cardiff after Dave Jones was axed yesterday for failing to navigate the play-off quagmire for the second year running.

David Moyes has been a favourite among fans for the Aston Villa job from the moment Martin O'Neill quit. Long before that in many cases truth be told.

He's also been a hot favourite with the bookies; they even had to close the book on him at one point last year. That was after Bob Bradley had been the favourite for a spell as I recall.

Less than four weeks until they start Europa League play, and two weeks before players are due back for pre-season training, Fulham are managerless as Mark Hughes' deal as Fulham manager expired on Wednesday night.

Hughes's one year deal expired at the end of May, and with the calendar turning to June 1st, Hughes became a free agent and is technically no longer Fulham's manager.

South Korean sports suspected of having been penetrated by match fixers will no longer receive proceeds from Sports Toto, the country's sole legal sports betting agency, and bookies will face tougher punishment for illegal activities. According to The Dong-A Ilbo, the Sports Ministry has announced stricter measures against match fixing including revising the National Sports Promotion Act to

By Chris Wright

"He's not turned into a decent manager overnight Gary"

Saints be praised! Dr Alan Shearer will still be proffering forth his studious Alan-alysis to the nation from the Match of the Day settee next season after holding what he described as 'unsuccessful' talks (despite somehow becoming the bookies' favourite to land the job) with Cardiff about taking over as manager of the Welsh club.

Bookies have slashed the odds on Andre Villas-Boas becoming the new Chelsea manager over the weekend and this morning from 8/1 - 11/10 and have reportedly suspended the betting!.
After weeks of speculation about who the main man was going to be at Chelsea, it seems there could be two arriving at Stamford Bridge with Guus Hiddink coming in as Director of Football and Andre Villas-Boas as the new First Team Coach.

Admittedly I was a bit slow to publish this...so with the added benefit of one performance, here's the League Two preview!

Who's Looking Good?

Crawley Town: Most bookies favourites, Crawley have the biggest budget in the league, momentum to die for, and probably the deadliest striker in the division in Matt Tubbs.

There are hundreds of Arsenal transfer rumours around in the media, but I prefer to keep an eye on the bookies to see who is being backed to join Arsenal in this transfer window than relying on half made-up transfer news in the papers. Today I have noticed a very big move in the market [...]

NOTE: At the time of writing, the departures of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas aren't official and thus they are still Arsenal players. However, it is widely expected that they will leave, so this preview will be written under the assumption that neither of these two will be Arsenal players this coming season.

Phil Jagielka was linked with a move to Arsenal over the summer, and at one point the bookies were so confident of him signing a contract they had him as odds on to join, but the player himself has now stated that the move was never going to happen. Speaking to the Daily Mirror the [...]

After a mini revival of sorts, a real challenge awaits. It's the first time since I have been watching Arsenal that the Gunners are not clearly superior going into the NLD. To be fair, Redknapp has assembled a strong group that is there or thereabouts as far as the top four is concerned. With the summer that Arsenal have had, coupled with the current injuries, Arsenals' away form, and the appointment of Dean as the ref, it's no surprise that the Tiny Totts are actually favourites according to the pundits and bookies.

Everyone has to admit it has been a struggle so far this season. Four losses from seven matches in the league has left Arsenal in fifteenth place, already eight points behind fourth place, and the bookies are now predicting that Arsenal will finish sixth this season, although the cups still provide Arsenal with a realistic [.

Betting Preview: Robin van Persie to lead Arsenal to a win over Manchester City? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Even after suffering their first defeat of the Premier League season, Manchester City still sit atop the Premier League table, but archrivals and reigning league champions Manchester United are only two points behind and ready to pounce, and Tottenham, Chelsea, and Arsenal can‘t be dismissed at this juncture.

Looking back at the Leeds game last Saturday, it was clear we had no quick passing tempo being set by anybody deployed centrally. Denilson likes to move it quickly, but sometimes dallies a bit on the ball, Rosicky prefers to spot a ball and play it rather than keeping the ball ticking over, and Song is another who dallies a little on the ball before releasing.

Although Chelsea have blown a massive opportunity to be well clear at the top of the table, in a Premier League season where everybody is dropping points – in Manchester United's case, even without losing – they do seem to have turned their season around in time to save their boss from the sack. Had their dismal run of form continued then it would have been almost inevitable that Roman Abramovich would have wielded his managerial axe once more, but three wins in a row following the 7-0 FA Cup rout of Ipswich has breathed new life into a campaign which seemed to be circling the drain.

With four months still to go before we know who will be lifting the Premier League trophy, it seems that few are betting against Manchester United winning the title back.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men are sitting pretty at the top of the table, level on points with neighbours Manchester City, however, the Old Trafford club have two games in hand.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Although Chelsea have blown a massive opportunity to be well clear at the top of the table, in a Premier League season where everybody is dropping points – in Manchester United's case, even without losing – they do seem to have turned their season around in time to save their boss from the sack. Had their dismal run of form continued then it would have been almost inevitable that Roman Abramovich would have wielded his managerial axe once more, but three wins in a row following the 7-0 FA Cup rout of Ipswich has breathed new life into a campaign which seemed to be circling the drain.

The one that changed the game

If the midweek win against Everton can be one of the season defining ones then likewise, this match at St James Park is another one of those games. For this is where we let slip an unassailable lead to only gather a point. I say that because Arsenal has just became the first team ever in the Premier League history to not win after going 4 up.

After Mark Clattenberg's late penalty award on Saturday, I wondered about referees and their impact on games. How great an impact do they have? Are some swayed by the home crowd? Do others have subsconscious propensities to favour underdogs? That sort of thing. I don't know that these questions can really be answered, but the following culled from football-data.

It may have been a slow weekend at the News of the World, where the story linking Harry Redknapp to the Chelsea manager's post emerged yesterday.

If previous form is anything to go by, Carlo Ancelotti's failure to secure at trophy at Stamford Bridge is likely to see him vacate the post this summer and there is likely to be a queue already forming to take over.

-
Champions!-
-
- Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
- Bookies Already Paying Out on QPR's Championship.

Swindon Town's New (and Controversial) Boss

You couldn't ever accuse Swindon Town supporters of having little to talk about. The team has pogoed around the divisions in the last twenty years (they were present in the second ever Premier League season of 1993-4, and are at present the only former Premiership team to have been relegated to the lowest league tier).

Over the past week or so we've had bookies' favourite after bookies' favourite billed as the next Aston Villa manager, only to later be dismissed almost as quickly as they emerged. I could count all the posts on the subject from the various Aston Villa blogs and news outlets I subscribe to, but I'm pretty certain it's easily in triple digits.

Over the past week or so we've had bookies' favourite after bookies' favourite billed as the next Aston Villa manager, only to later be dismissed almost as quickly as they emerged. I could count all the posts on the subject from the various Aston Villa blogs and news outlets I subscribe to, but I'm pretty certain it's easily in triple digits.

I like to look at the bookies prices for Arsenal's rumoured transfer targets (?) now and again, and as I haven't looked at the betting recently I thought it was time for an update, so here we go. Everyone seems to assume that Wenger is going to sign either Christopher Samba or Gary Cahill, but [...]

THFC1882's Stuart Watts takes a look at the season ahead, Rob Handworker offers his thoughts throughout.

The Odds

(All odds are those offered by majority of bookies using www.oddschecker.com on 8th August)

Premier League winners: 50-1

Top 4 Finish: 3-1

Premier League Top Scorers: Defoe & Van der Vaart 33-1; Pavlyuchenko 50-1; Crouch 66-1

Europa League Winners: 14-1 (joint second favourites with Roma, behind Atletico Madrid, Sevilla & PSG)

FA Cup winners: 12-1

Carling Cup winners: 12-1

The Players

As it stands there are barely any personnel changes so the playing staff remains reassuringly familiar.

The Axe Factor: Neil Warnock & Arsene Wenger in contention to become early managerial casualties with bookies

In the first of our new series we look at why betting on football managers to get the sack continues to be so popular in England

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-08-16 10:49:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

What are the odds Sven fails to see out the season as Leicester boss? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

When is word going to leak out that Sven Goran Eriksson isn't very good at managing football teams? For reasons beyond me, Sven is not short of offers from wealthy boards or rich broads.

Betting Blog: Bookies cleaning up in early weeks of season, La Liga will be the same old story, plus tips

JD sounds off on the turbulent times in the season's opening fixtures and does not forecast any major changes in Spain when the action finally kicks off

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-08-19 12:21:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.