UEFA Cup Football Latest
The good run continued last night with Fenerbache beating PSV 2-0 for both
bets to come in.
Colin Kazim-Richard who was at Sheffield United not so long ago getting
one of the goals and proving that football really is a "funny old game" as
one minute you are on the bench in Sheffield and next you are grabbing
your first Champions league goal.
Today I am delving into the UEFA Cup and the group match between Spartak
Moscow and Bayer Leverkusen. These two are in one of the more competitive
groups along with FC Zurich (Swiss), Sparta Prague (Czech Rep) and
Toulouse (France) and with 3 teams progressing from each group every point
in vital.
This is Spartak`s first game in the group phase and they reached this
stage of the competition by beating Hacken of Sweden 5-0 at home and 3-1
away, Prior to that they were unlucky to go out to Celtic on penalties in
the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League so they are a team not to
be underestimated.
They are currently 2nd in the Russian League 2 points behind leaders Zenit
St Petersburg after 29 games and they have a home record of won 10 drawn 3
lost 1 scored 29 and conceded 11 their only league defeat to date was back
in May against Lokomotiv Moscow.
They are on a good run of form at present with 4 wins 1 draw and 1 defeat
in their last 6 games which includes 3 straight home wins with 8 goals
scored and only 1 conceded.
Spartak`s top scorer is Pavlyuchenko with 13 goals which makes him also
joint top league goalscorer with CSKA`s Wagner Love and England supporters
will not need reminding of the goal threat he represents after his 2 goals
against England in Russia back in October.
Bayer Leverkusen have already played in group match when they beat
Toulouse 1-0 at home. They reached this stage of the competition with a
5-4 aggregate win over Uniao Leiria of Portugal winning the home leg 3-1
before losing 3-2 away.
In the league this season they sit 6th and are already 10 points behind
leaders Bayern Munich after 12 games. Their away record is average with 2
wins 1 draw and 3 losses so far scoring 7 and conceding 6.
Their last 6 league games have brought 2 wins 1 draw and 3 defeats whilst
scoring 9 and conceding 7 with 1 win and 2 defeats on the road during that
period.
The two teams have met twice before in European competition during the
2000/01 Champions League campaign group stages and honours were shared
with Spartak winning their home game 2-0 and Leverkusen winning their home
match 1-0.
Another interesting stat is that Spartak are unbeaten in their last four
European home games, although they won only one of those matches however
Leverkusen have lost in their last three European away games, and have not
earned a win on their travels in 17 games - a run stretching back to a 2-0
Champions League win at Maccabi Haifa FC in the 2002/03 season.
All these facts leads me to believe that at generally 11/10 the win
Spartak offer a bit of value for todays game.
I will be keeping an eye out for team news nearer to the kick off to see
if Igor Titov is selected to play for Spartak, he has scored 7 goals in
the league this season and no less then 6 of them have been first goals,
he is currently priced at 17/2 with Bet365 in the first goalscorer market
and could be a fun bet for a small stake he is also 14/5 with the same
firm in the anytime goalscorer market and again I would not put anyone off
a small interest in that field if he plays.
So Spartak to beat Bayer Leverkusen @ 11/10 generally with a small bet on
Titov first goalscorer @17/2 and anytime goalscorer at 14/5 subject to him
playing.
Good luck and just to note that the kick off for this match is 4:00 GMT.
Silverfox.
