Champions League Footy
Both tips were successful last night with Walsall beating Northampton 1-0
in their F.A.Cup 2nd round replay at the Bescot Stadium and in the process
won the -2.5 goal bet.
Tonight I am going into the Champions League and the make or break tie
between Rangers and Lyon at Ibrox. Rangers need only a draw to progress to
the knock out stages as they beat Lyon 3-0 in France so Lyon will have to
come out and go for the win.
Lyon lost 1-0 at the weekend to Caen with an under strength side but take
nothing away from Caen`s performance on the day as they are currently the
form side in France over the last 6 games.
This is a very close game to call as both sides are doing well in their
respective leagues. Rangers are 2nd in the league 5 points behind eternal
rivals Celtic with 2 games in hand and have won 7 of their 8 league games
at home this season scoring 23 and conceding only 3, the only blemish on
an otherwise perfect home record was the 1-0 defeat to Hibernians at the
beginning of October.
In the Champions league their home record has been equally impressive with
wins in the qualifying rounds against Zeta (2-0) and Red Star Belgrade
(1-0) followed up in the group stage by a win against Stuttgart (2-1) and
a creditable 0-0 draw against Barcelona in their last home tie.
Lyon inevitably sit top of the French league 4 points of 2nd placed Nancy
but have not been as dominant this season as they go in search of their
7th consecutive title. They have already lost 4 league games this season
from 17 played and their away form reads won 5 drawn 0 lost 3 scored 16
and conceded 9, the defeats coming at Toulouse (14th), Lorient (11th), and
as previously mentioned last weekend at Caen (8th) and with the greatest
of respect to the afore mentioned teams none of them are big name sides.
Their 2 away games in the Champions league this season saw them roundly
beaten by Barcelona 3-0 and then winning 2-0 at a disappointing Stuttgart
so I do not feel much can be drawn from that line of form.
I am going for a Rangers win tonight as I feel with a full house behind
them the team will rise to the challenge, and though a point is all that
is required I cannot see them settling for that result. The fact that
Celtic has already made it into the knockout stages will be further
impetus in any was needed for them to progress tonight and in the process
make history as it would be the first time two Scottish sides have made
the knock out phase.
Early team news is that Rangers will be without the injured trio of
Jean-Claude Darcheville, Nacho Novo and DaMarcus Beasley and Smith may opt
to play Daniel Cousin as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation.
Lyon coach Alain Perrin left out Fabio Grosso and restricted Juninho and
Sidney Govou to second-half substitute appearances against Caen at the
weekend and it would be fair to assume that they will all return to the
starting line up tonight.
23/10 with Bet365 and Boylesport is to good a price to miss for a Rangers
win tonight and though Lyon will be tough opposition I expect a home win
tonight.
As a saver I may well have a small investment on Rangers +0.25 goals on
the Asian handicap to cover the eventuality of a draw which VCBet are
offering at 22/23 at present.
As always good luck,
Silverfox.
