With perhaps the most feared attacking trio in the Premier League, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool look a side that could make it to the Top Four quite easily. Mohammed Salah, Roberto Firminio and Sadio Mane scored an astonishing 91 goals between them last season in all forms of competition. Klopp’s policy of just plain attacking cost him a few goals in the 2017-18, though, given that the Reds conceded the maximum number of goals among teams in the Top 10 of the Premier League. The German coach is taking no chances this season, plugging in a weak area in the defense – goalkeeping. The acquisition of Alisson Becker from Roma for a record £70 million was made to address this weakness at the back. Both regular custodians of the 2017-18 season, Loris Kariius and Simon Mignolet are on their way out. Liverpool look the only side in sight capable of challenging the might of Manchester City. The thrashing of the near invincible City in the UEFA Champions League last season is a pointer to that. Jurgen Klopp’s men have begun the 2018-19 season in expected fashion beating West Ham and Crystal Palace 4-0 and 0-2.

Manchester United, last year’s Premier League runners-up, look good on paper with a midfield that boasts the likes of Paul Pogba, Andreas Pereira, Marouane Fellaini and Nemanja Matic and an attack spearheaded by Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Juan Mata and young talent Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford. In David De Gea, they have one of the best goalkeepers in the world. All this combined make up champion material, but somehow coach Jose Mourinho hasn’t been able to exploit the inherent strengths of the Red Devils. Unlike the previous season, where they probably had one of the best starts ever, United have begun the current Premier League season on a mixed note, beating Leicester City 2-1 in the opener and succumbing to a shock 2-3 defeat to not-so-formidable Brighton City. The Red Devils do look a side that could be in the Top Four, but given their inconsistency over the past seasons, there’s always a danger that some side like Tottenham Hotspur or Arsenal could upstage them to that spot.

Chelsea have been a side performing in extremes – Premier League champions for seasons 2014–15 and 2016–17 and 10th and 5th places in 2015–16 and 2017–18. Given the trend, the Blues are expected to perform much better this year and they have the firepower to do that. New manager Maurizio Sarri has inherited an outfit from ousted fellow countryman Antonio Conte that boasts one of the best mid-fields in the business – Cesc Fabregas, N’Golo Kante, Willian and the brilliant Eden Hazard being some of the names that populate that space. Jorginho is one more mid-filed addition snapped up from Napoli for £50 million. The defense has the likes of Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso, Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz, all capable of taking attacking roles as and when needed. Chelsea will, of course, miss the services of the outstanding Thibaut Courtois between the posts, sold to Real Madrid for a surprisingly low price of £31.5 million. Inexplicable, though, was the move to bring in 23-year old Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for a staggering £72 million in place of Courtois. Nevertheless, Chelsea fans can surely expect their team to finish in the Top Four this season. Their 2 impressive wins over Huddersfield (0-3) and Arsenal (3-2) seem to be giving supporters of the club hope going ahead.

Recommended Tip: Tottenham

Best Odds 8/13

The post Who will finish at the Top Four of the 2018-19 Premier league season? appeared first on Football Betting Master.

Inter-Milan with odds of 5/1 are the next contenders for the Serie A crown. The Milanese club made it to the Top Four in the 2017-18 season, pipping Lazio to the 4th spot on a goal difference. At 72 points they finished far behind Juventus and Napoli on the table, but feel the coming season could be better. The acquisition of the livewire Radja Nainggolan from Roma for €38 million is expected to breathe life into an uninspiring forward line. Ivan Perisic and Mauro Icardi, though not as great as they were before, are still very good. Perisic’s brilliant WC 2018 outing for Croatia is giving the management new found hope. Fellow Croat Sime Vrsaljko on loan from Atletico Madrid is a brilliant addition at the back to defenders Stefan de Vrij (acquired from Lazio for free) and Kwadwo Asamoah (from Juventus at no cost). I Nerazzurri can be expected to perform much better than they did in 2017-18.

Napoli at 8/1 are third in line of contenders for the Serie A title. I Ciucciarelli had a splendid 2017-18 season coming a very close second to Juventus and falling behind by just 4 points. Carlo Ancelotti, the ex-Bayern Munich manager and Napoli’s new boss hasn’t gone in for any major acquisitions but like past managers will depend on the attacking trio of Lorenzo Insigne, Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens (back from a good WC 2018 campaign for Belgium) to get him goals. Fabian is the costliest buy for €30 million, brought in to fill in the mid-field space left by Jorginho, but the 22-year old ex-Real Betis player has a tough job ahead of him. Ruiz will will find company in the incredible central mid-fielder Marek Hamsík while shaping attacks for Mertens & Co upfront. Will someone like Hamsík around, who already has 100 goals for the club from 395 appearances, Napoli are always in with a chance.

Roma are tied odds-wise with Napoli at 8/1 to win the Serie A this season. The big blow to the Rome-based side has been the departure of Serie A’s best goal-keeper without a doubt, Allisson Becker, gone to Liverpool on a record-breaking deal. Coach Eusebio Di Francesco is prepared to take chances with Bologna’s 35-year old custodian Antonio Mirante though. Davide Santon bought from Inter-Milan is a solid addition to the formidable Kostas Manolas, Aleksandar Kolarov and Federico Fazio at the back. The advent of Javier Pastore from PSG will give more strength to a mid-field that has the likes of Daniele De Rossi (Captain) and Alessandro Florenzi (Vice-Captain) in it. The much talked about Ajax import, 19-year old Justin Kluivert, will be expected to join hands with strike force upfront consisting of the brilliant Edin Dzeko, Cengiz Ünder, Patrik Schick and Stephan El Shaarawy. I Giallorossi look fair contenders to take on the might of Juventus in the 2018-19 season.

Fifth and sixth on bookmakers’ odds are AC Milan and Lazio, who at 15/1 and 66/1 hardly look likely to pose a challenge for Italy’s top footballing honours.

Recommended Tip: Napoli each-way (2 Places) – Best Odds 8/1

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Luis Suarez (6.00) is next in line to head the charts as far as goal-scoring odds go. The 31-year old Uruguayan did not have the best of World Cups and with the exit of Neymar from Barcelona, fewer goal-scoring opportunities have come his way thanks to a positional change effected upfront by coach Ernesto Valverde. But with predatory instincts like his, it shouldn’t take long for someone like Suarez to hit top form like he did in the 2015-16 season when he got an astonishing 40 goals from just 35 La Liga outings.

Antoine Griezmann (10.00). Euro 2016’s Golden Boot winner and world champions’ France’s top scorer at the WC Russia 2018 could have been La Liga’s top scorer long ago. But it’s Atletico coach Diego Simeone’s ultra-defensive style that limits free goal-scoring. Despite their 2nd spot on the La Liga table in 2017-18, Atletico Madrid managed just 58 goals from their 38 games compared to 99 and 94 of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Griezmann’s paltry 19 goals from 32 La Liga outings in the season doesn’t do justice to a striker considered to be among the best in the world. A change of style on Simeone’s part would do a world of good to the 27-year old Frenchman.

Gareth Bale at odds of (10.00) could have a realistic chance of becoming the Spanish League’s top scorer only he were to the play the full quota of 38 games. But that rarely happens. The 29-year old Real Madrid winger played just 23,19 and 26 La Liga games in each of the last three seasons, beset mostly by fitness issues. How Bale would figure in new manager Julen Lopetegui’s scheme of things remains to be seen. Added to all this, constant distractions in the form of rumours relating to a move out of Bernabeu simply rules the Welshman out as a potential top scorer for the 2018-19 La Liga season.

Karim Benzema (12.00) faces the similar problems as his team-mate Gareth Bale does. Although he was able to squeeze in more games last season than Bale (32 games), the brilliant French forward was having a bad season as his paltry count of 5 goals would suggest. Moreover, a blackmail case is one more of the Frenchman’s worries to add to. Rumours flying around of a potential transfer to Juventus also puts a cloud on Benzema’s La Liga tenure going ahead.

Diego Costa at (15:00) certainly deserves better odds. This awesome ex-Chelsea and Spanish international striker is inhibited from getting more goals for the same reasons as Atletico team-mate Antoine Griezmann. Costa was especially plagued by injury issues in the 2017-18 season when we could muster up just 15 La Liga outings. A return to fitness this season could mean more goals for the opportunistic 29-year old forward.

Recommended Tip: Suarez

Best Odds 6.0 at Betfred

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All in all, it looks unlikely that the Swiss have the required firepower to breach the Brazilian defence. Switzerland qualified for the WC 2018 from a very weak group that had teams like Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Andorra. Although they won 9 of the 10 games they played in the tournament they managed just 23 goals, which is low by any standards considering the poor quality of opposition they were up against.The defense that has center-backs like Nico Elvedi (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Johan Djourou (Antalyaspor), the very experienced Stephan Lichtsteiner (Arsenal) and RomanBurki (Borussia Dortmund) at the goal look unlikely to stem the potential wave of Brazilian attacks. For the Swiss, the only names that could create an impact are XherdanShaqiri (Stoke City), Granit Xhaka (Arsenal) and striker Josip Drmic (Borussia Monchengladbach). It’s the powerful long-range shooting that Shaqiri or Xhaka sometimes resort to, is something the Selecao will have to watch out for. The Swiss will aim to remain tight at the back for most of the game and look for opportunities in counter-attacks.

But all said and done, it’s the Brazilians who look the clear favorites to take the game at the Rostov Arena.

Switzerland have managed to get into the World Cup only five times in the last 13 editions including this one in Russia, but have done so successively on four occasions starting 2006, which is indeed a marked improvement compared to the decades preceding that. They also made it to the Round of 16 in 2006 and 2014 where they narrowly lost to Argentina 0-1 in extra-time.

Recommended Tip:
Brazil to Win, Best Odds 4/9
Neymar to Score, Best Odds 10/11
HT/FT – Draw, Brazil – Best Odds 3/1

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Liverpool watchers were surprised to see a full-strength side play at Anfield in the 0-0 draw against Stoke City in the light of the team’s crucial trip to Rome for the 2nd leg semi-final clash on Wednesday. The talismanic Mo Salah, who was expected to be rested ahead of the critical European outings spent the entire 90 minutes on the pitch in both of Liverpool’s drawn games. Interestingly, Jurgen Klopp had made as many as five changes in the 2-2 draw against bottom -scrapers West Bromwich. The German coach is not likely to take any chances against Chelsea and adopt his customary formation of 4-3-3 with Salah, Firmino and Sadio Mane taking up striking positions with Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold playing behind the attacking trio.The Reds will miss the services of the brilliant Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the wings, most probably out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

A slightly jet-lagged Liverpool will be playing at Stamford Bridge within days of their trip to Italy, but will be happy to come out of the clash even with a point.

For Chelsea to close the six-point gap with the visitors will mean winning many more matches on the trot and praying for Liverpool to slip up badly in their forthcoming outings. The Reds have the disadvantage of having played a game more than their Sunday rivals, but as of now they look to hold on to the Top four whatever the outcome of the May clash.

Given Liverpool’s patchy recent form in the Premier League and a back-to-form Chelsea, bookmakers seem to be wagering on a win for the hosts.

Recommended Tip: Chelsea to win best odds 5/4

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Liverpool will be progressing into a tough week when they host Roma for the 1st leg of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) semi-finals on Tuesday night and follow it up with a Premier league clash against Stoke City at Anfield again.

The Reds look to retain their position in the Top Four post their match against the Potters. Mohammad Salah continues his remarkable form, getting his 31st goal for the season in his side’s somewhat disappointing 2-2 draw against West Bromwich last Saturday. Post the 1st leg match, Klopp may choose to rest some of his key players like Sadio Mane, Firmino, Virgil van Dijk or even Salah for 28th April’s clash against Stoke City keeping in mind the very gruelling trip to Italy for the 2nd leg UCL encounter with Roma. That may give a chance to players like Dominic Solanke and Robertson to make the cut in the weekend’s Premier League game.

For Stoke City, it’s just the matter of staying alive in the League and coming out of relegation territory. The Potters are in the 19th spot with 29 points and still 4 points away from 17th placed Swansea City. Even against a less-than-full-strength Liverpool, the Potters may find it difficult to muster a point. Coach Paul Lambert seems to be have infused a minor revival by changing his formation from his customary 4-2-3-1 system to 4-4-2 that has seen Peter Crouch partner Mame Diouf as strikers. The Potters have managed to eke out a couple of 1-1 draws, one with West Ham and an impressive one against 7th placed Burnley. This comes after a string of 4 defeats in which the Potters conceded as many as 9 goals and scored just twice. At the back, Glen Johnson has come in to replace Kurt Zouma and along with Shawcross and Martins Indi form the defensive back-bone. Jack Butland as usual is expected to man the posts. BadouNdiaye, who scored the Potter’s lone goal in last weekend’s drawn game against Burnley is expected to start off at Anfield in the mid-field space with XerdanShaqiri manning the right-wing, a flank from which Lambert would intend orchestrating most of his attacks.

Stoke City have won just 2 of their 10 encounters with their weekend rivals since 2014. For them, the weekend Anfield game is a must win if they are to survive the impending relegation staring at them. But the odds are heavily stacked against them. As for Liverpool, it could be one more opportunity for Mo Salah to further his goal-scoring record if he were to feature.

A desperate Stoke could at best force out a draw. Otherwise, a “correct score” bet on a score-line of 3-0 in favour of the hosts seems worth taking.

Recommended Tip: Liverpool to win & BTTS, Best odds 2.8 @ Ladbrokes

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Arsenal will be hoping to collect 3 more points from the their Sunday’s Premier league clash with Stoke City. The Gunners are not likely to come out of the 6th spot to which they have been stuck at for months, as they are a clear 8 points behind 5th-placed Chelsea. But the only heartening thing going for Arsenal is the sublime form of German-international Mesut Ozil who although may not have found goals in his side’s emphatic wins against Watford and AC Milan, has provided more than 10 assists combinedly in those 2 games. Danny Welbeck’s return to form with his double strike against Milan is a welcome sight, too. Henrikh Mkhitaryan got his first goal for his new club in the clash against Watford. Pierre Aubameyang, who missed the Europa League game against Milan on a technicality should be back for the Stoke City clash. The Frenchman looked at his best in the 3-0 win against Watford getting a brace. It would be interesting to see what Arsene Wenger will do with the in-form Danny Welbeck with Aubameyang back in the starting XI.Welbeck played the lone striker in the game against Milan in a 4-2-3-1 with the trio of Ozil, Wilshire and Mkhitaryan behind him. Striker Alexandre Lacazette will be back, too, after his international break, but with his poor recent form one wonders where exactly he will fit in. Defensively, Arsenal have done better in their last 2 outings conceding just a solitary goal from them – this following a horror story of 3 defeats on the trot to Tottenham, Manchester City and most humiliatiangly to Brighton in which they conceded a total of six.

For Stoke City, getting out of the relegation territory will be a real challenge going ahead, given that they are in the 19th spot and still 3 points behind 17th placed West Ham’s 30. Post the tough Arsenal game on Sunday, the Potters are lined up against West Ham, Burnley, Crystal Palace and Swansea all of which they need to win if they are to avoid relegation by the end of the season. But for a side that has won just 6 of its last 31 games, it’s asking for too much.Coach Paul Lambert seems to be pinning his hopes on the return of two of his key players from injuries – Mame Diouf who has been out since March 3 and Xherdan Shaqiri who missed the Everton game on March 17 owing to a calf strain.The Potters will need both Diouf and Shaqiri upfront at the Emirates on April 1 if they are to pull off a miracle. Arsenal in contrast to their form in away games are quite invincible at home, thus making them the clear favourites to take 3 points from Sunday’s game.

Recommended Tip: Arsenal to WIN, Best Odds 1.57

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So, once again the last year’s finalists meet in the UEFA Champions League tourney, but this time in as early as the Round of 8 stage. Juventus will be thirsting for revenge and very much want to put the 1-4 thrashing at the hands of the 11-time champions in the 2017 finals behind them.

For the Bianconeri, the probable absence of Giorgio Chiellini at the back could be a big blow going into the Round of 8 clash. The 33-year old defensive legend suffered a thigh injury in a Serie A clash with SPAL last weekend. Centre-back Mehdi Benatia will be out on a yellow card suspension till April 5th and so will be central mid-fielder Miralem Pjanic. Brazilian right-winger Juan Cuadrado will miss the April 3 game, too, out with a groin injury. Despite having brilliant players like Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Mario Mandzukic in the attack, the loss of so many individuals in the mid-field and defensive spaces will automatically put Juve on the back-foot especially when the visitors have the likes of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Caseimiro prowling in similar positions. The Real mid-field bench strength is incredible with Isco, Gareth Bale and Lucas Vazquez crowding the ranks. Arsenio, Benzema and Ronaldo still make a terrifying attacking trio despite Benzema not being at his best.

Massimiliano Allegri will probably stick to his customary 4-2-3-1 which will have the very creative Higuain as the lone striker. But it will take just more than the mercurial Argentine to test the Real wall of Sergio Ramos, Marcello, Daniel Carvajal and Raphael Varane. Behind Higuain will be the live-wire trio of Douglas Costa on the wings, the very gifted Dybala and Alex Sandro all of whom can be so lethal in counter-attacks. Real defenders Marcello, Ramos and Carvajal have in recent years shown a propensity to attack early in a game that could leave holes for Higuain, Dybala & co. to exploit. The responsibilities of manning the Bianconeri defense will lie on the shoulders of Andrea Barzagli with Chiellini out for next week’s game. To give him company at the back will be Mattia De Sciglio, Daniele Rugani and Kwadwo Asamoah.

Juventus five-match winning run was broken by a unwanted 0-0 draw against Serie A minions SPAL. But, needless to say, it will be a somewhat depleted Juventus side that will face the fury of Ronaldo & co. The Los Blancos icon is in blistering form coming out of a La Liga clash against Girona where he pumped in 4 goals.

Real Madrid do not have a very convincing history against Juventus having won just 2 of their ten matches in a decade. But it’s the Los Blancos incredible form on the European stage in recent years that give them the edge.

Recommended Tip:

Juventus to WIN, best odds 2.84 @ Betfair

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All the great defending Chelsea did to hang on to their vital one-goal advantage at Stamford Bridge came to nothing by the time the game ended, thanks to a brilliant Iniesta-Messi inter-play that helped the visiting Blaugrana equalize with a vital away goal. Antonio Conte’s men who would have loved to the enter the 2nd leg of the clash with a 1-0 score line will now have their backs to the wall at a hostile Nou Camp environment with the aggregate reading 1-1.

But Barca’s hopes have received a blow with Andres Iniesta probably having suffered a hamstring injury sustained during Sunday’s La Liga clash against Atletico Madrid. Coach Ernesto Valverde’s problems in that vital mid-field space has been further deepened by Phillipe Coutinho’s absence.

Despite the draw at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were tactically the better side. Antonio Conte was effectively able to tie down Messi and Luis Suarez for most of the match and had it not been for Iniesta’s brilliant playmaking skills, the Italian coach would have proceeded to Spain with a desired result. But this will probably not stop him from adopting the same tactics he did at home. Barring the solitary Messi goal, the Barca attack was bottled up to such an extent that goalie Thibaut Courtois was tested just twice in the game, this despite a 77 per cent ball-possession by the Catalan giants.

As far as a replacement to the iconic Iniesta goes, 24-year old Portuguese central mid-fielder, Andre Gomes, looks likely to start off against Chelsea. Another candidate for the spot, Ousmane Dembele, the £97m import from Borussia Dortmund, who has been out injured since November is likely to feature in Barca’s weekend fixture against Malaga which should give one a fair indication about his fitness for coming encounters.

Chelsea looked deadly on the breaks at Stamford Bridge and had the Barca defence on the ropes whenever they counter-attacked. Willian especially along with Pedro, Eden Hazard and Marco Alonso looked likely to get goals in such situations. A similar thing could happen at Nou Camp with an over-enthusiastic Barcelona going for the kill and leaving holes in their defence. Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and Victor Moses all of whom were so outstanding at the back in Stamford Bridge will have to perform an encore in Spain.

Barcelona don’t have fond memories of Chelsea’s previous visit to Nou Camp in 2012 when a 2-2 draw saw them booted out of the Champions League. in fact, quite shockingly Chelsea haven’t lost any of their 8 games against the Catalan club since 2006, something that could weigh quite heavily on the minds of the hosts.

Domestic form-wise, Barcelona seemed to have lost the invincible sparkle they showed at the start of the season, drawing half of their last 6 La Liga games since February. Chelsea on the other hand are going through one of their worst phases, losing 4 of their 6 previous Premier league games.

Despite a disappointing history against the visiting London club, Barcelona are strong contenders to qualify for the Round of 8 as the odds below suggest. But it would be least surprising if the outcome of March 14th’s Nou Camp clash were to confound Chelsea critics and bookmakers.

Half Time/Full Time, Barcelona/Barcelona, Best Odds 6/5 @ Ladbrokes

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A remarkable Crystal Palace recovery from the bottom of the table to as high as the 12th spot under manager Roy Hodgson looks to be coming apart again after 5 winless games since January 20. A big blow to the Eagles has the absence of their talismanic striker Wifried Zaha out with a knee injury sustained in a match against Newcastle on February 1. Other crucial absentees owing to injury are Ruben Loftus-Cheek & Jason Puncheon (midfield), Scott Dann & Mamadou Sakho (Center-Back) and Bakary Saho (Left-wing). How many of them will return for the forthcoming clash at Selhurst Park against Manchester United on March 5 is a matter of some conjecture. Without Zaha upfront, the Palace attack look toothless and the manner in which the Eagles conceded almost three-fourths of the possession to Tottenham last weekend looks to be repeated again in the United game early next week. The defense of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, James Tomkins and Patrick van Aanholt have been impotent at best, conceding as many as 10 goals from their last 5 outings.

For Jose Mourinho’s Red Devils, the Selhurst Park outing should be an opportunity to consolidate their position in the Top Four. While the Paul Pogba of old is yet to re-surface, the return to form of this season’s priciest acquisition, Romelu Lukaku, is a relief for United fans. Jesse Lingard has shown that he isn’t a spent force even after the arrival of Alexis Sanchez in the center-forward position, with a vital winner in the game against Chelsea on Sunday. Going into the Palace match, United will need Lingard, especially at a time when the Red Devils seem to be faltering in away games. With the attacking riches at Mourinho’s disposal in the form of Marcus Rashford, Lukaku, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and Lingard, of course, he cannot expect to slip up at Selhurst Park.

Since Palace’s re-introduction to the Premier League in 2011, they have lost all but one of their 11 games with United. Furthermore, the Eagles have the danger of slipping again into relegation territory if they were to lose on Monday night.

The odds are very much in favor of Mourinho’s men at the Selhurst Park on March 5th. 

Recommended Tip:

Man Utd to Win, Best Odds 1.57 @ Betway

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