The first leg of this Europa League tie produced a bit of an upset as FC Utrecht beat 2008 UEFA Cup champions Zenit St. Petersburg 1-0. Although they lost the away leg last week, Zenit will still feel that they can qualify from this round as they are clearly the better side on paper. However, the fact they did not score an away goal in Holland could come back to haunt them. Roberto Mancini’s side recovered from that Europa League defeat to record a 1-0 win away at Amkar Perm at the weekend. The Italian manager has often witnessed his…

The first leg of this Europa League tie was an entertaining affair and finished in a 3-2 victory for Krasnodar. Perhaps more importantly though, this result meant that my two tips of 333/100 and 5/4 came off! Red Star were not given the chance to recover from that defeat in south Russia as their weekend match at Borac Cacak was postponed. Having said that, this postponement means that the Serbian side go into Thursday’s match with fresher legs. As I mentioned in that tip for the first leg, the Red-Whites have been excellent at both ends of the pitch this…

League Two kicks off early this weekend as Accrington travel to take on Notts County at Meadow Lane on Friday night. As they currently sit inside the top seven, both teams will be hoping to continue what has been a relatively pleasing start to the new campaign. The hosts, who lost 3-0 against Coventry on the opening day, have won each of their last three matches (all competitions) and are so far unbeaten at home. Similarly, Accrington have lost just one of their opening four league matches, winning each of the other three, while they also put in a valiant…

Despite being well-backed ahead of last week’s first-leg in Slovenia, French club Marseille couldn’t quite manage a victory as they drew 1-1. An away-goal does indeed give them the advantage ahead of this match; however, the tie is far from over and so there’s still plenty of work for Rudi García’s men to do. Juggling between continental and domestic action is never the easiest thing to do, especially when the Europa League means generally playing Thursday and Sunday, and it was fairly clear that Marseille, who drew 1-1 in the league at the weekend, were feeling the effects of playing away…

This time last week, Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb were hotly fancied by the bookies to overcome Albanian opposition in the form of Skenderbeu with minimal fuss; however, despite going into the game as short as 1/6 in the betting, the hosts were unable to get the better of a visiting team who proved to be more than useful. Mario Cvitanović’s men were a goal down inside the opening half and it took a 95th minute strike for them to walk off the pitch level. Hardly what you’d expect from a side who were long odds-on favourites. In front of their own…

One of Wednesday’s Champions League fixtures sees CSKA Moscow take on Swiss side BSC Young Boys. The first leg of this tie ended in rather hilarious, yet unfortunate, circumstances for Young Boys as defender Kasim Nuhu headed into his own net in the 91st minute. After a poor start to the season, CSKA have recovered in the last few weeks to record three wins in their last four games. Their improved form, particularly domestically, has put them fourth in the Russian Premier League table. The Army Men have traditionally been known for having a solid backline but offering little in…

Having earned a very respectable draw away in the first-leg of this play-off tie, it’s easy to see how Videoton come into this second-leg with the upper-hand. The Hungarian outfit acquitted themselves well away from home and, having limited their opposition to very few chances last week, should feel confident of progressing to the group stages. Although Partizan, as the hosts, did cut out much of the running in last week’s fixture, they failed to really create anything clear-cut and it was indeed the visitors who missed the best chance of the game. With this in mind, it would be…

Premier League hosts Championship in this League Cup tie as out-of-sorts Crystal Palace take on in-form Ipswich Town. Ronald De Boer’s arrival at Crystal Palace meant there was a lot of optimism around the club going into this season, however, reality has hit them hard and two defeats in two games means they are now 19th in the table. However, the League Cup presents a chance to pick up a result in a lower pressure environment. Dutchman De Boer was hired to bring an attractive style of play to Palace, however, although we are only two games in, the signs…

Although this match sees a League Two side play host to a Premier League outfit, given this is the League Cup, this may not be as one-sided as many think. After nearly gaining promotion to League One via the playoffs the season before, Accrington finished in midtable in the 2016/17 campaign. They have had a relatively good start to this season, winning two and losing once, putting them up in the League Two playoff places for the time being. Additionally, they beat Championship side Preston North End in the previous round of this season’s League Cup. Stanley matches have seen…

Monday’s Russian Premier League match looks like a rather one-sided contest as Akhmat Grozny (formerly Terek Grozny) host Arsenal Tula. Oleg Kononov’s Akhmat side have been on a bad run recently and have now lost three on the bounce – putting them ninth in the table after six games. It is still early in the season but they need to pick up again quickly to ensure they are still in the race for Europe come the end of the campaign. The Chechen side have been so reliable at the back in recent years but it has been a completely different…

These two sides have had contrasting starts to the season with Ipswich having won all three of their matches so far and Brentford picking up just one point from a possible nine. After losing a pre-season friendly 6-1 to Charlton Athletic, many were questioning why under-pressure manager Mick McCarthy was still in charge at Ipswich. However, McCarthy’s side have defied the odds to make a fantastic start to the campaign and they currently sit third in the table. McCarthy teams are generally known for the defensive solidity but it has been the opposite so far this campaign where goals have…

League leaders Manchester United travel to Swansea City on Saturday lunchtime in hope of extending their winning start to the season. Swansea just about stayed in the Premier League last term and survival is undoubtedly the aim this time around as well. The biggest news coming out of the South Wales club this week has been the departure of Gylfi Sigurdsson to Everton for a fee of £45m. The Icelander was key to much of the Swans’ attacking play and was the league’s third-highest assist maker last season with 13 to his name. The former Spurs man will be hard…