Friday, April 20, 2012

Make or Break

If Chelsea wanted some sort of justice to their controversial ouster at the hands of Barcelona in the UCL a few years back, they must feel they got it on Wednesday night. There was only one deserving winner in that game, and it certainly wasn't Di Matteo's men. Not scoring a vital away goal might come and bite back the Catalans in the second leg, which promises to be dramatic to say the least.

This is the final straight of the football season where any drop of points for the contenders can spell the doom to their title chances. Man City hopes are clinging to a thread at this point and they couldn't ask for a better road trip at Molyneux. Wolves have yet to win under their current manager, and it does not look it will happen against the Citizens. With in-form Tevez, Man City should win this and polish their goal differential as well, in case this becomes the deciding factor in the end.

Arsenal host Chelsea and I fancy the Gunners here; the reason being that Chelsea will have their eye on the upcoming UCL match in Barcelona. There is little doubt that many elements of the first-team will not be risked for Sunday's game. Their defense is already stretched and Drogba looks a definite non-starter. This is a glorious winning opportunity for the Gunners and they are good value as draw-no-bet

Man Utd host Everton in another must-win game for the leaders. The Toffees have been in great form of late, so this is not going to be a cake-walk for the hosts. They will need to get the quick first goal, or else there will certainly be jitters to break Everton's defence. A draw-no-bet on the Red Devils looks safe, but I believe they have enough fire power to claim the 3 points. A Win looks good value.

It's the Clasico in La Liga where Barcelona have to beat Real Madrid at the Nou Camp to have any chance of retaining the title. A draw will give the Los Blancos enough breathing room until the end. The coming week will make or break the Catalans. They wrongly negotiated the first leg at Chelsea by getting beaten and not scoring a goal. They are bound to be distracted on Saturday's game as they will want to be at their peak for the return UCL match a few days later. Madrid too will have an eye on their return leg against Bayern, but this the Clasico is not a must-win game for them. In fact, it would not surprise me if Mourinho went for the draw and parked the bus. He'll deny it, but this is sure to be in his plans. The Clasico can go either way and it would not surprise me if Real further advanced its cause for the title by obtaining a favourable result at the Nou Camp.

In Italy, I see a definite win for AC Milan against Bologna. Juventus have a tougher task at home to Roma, and a draw-no-bet on the hosts should be safe.

Win: Man City, Man Utd, AC Milan
Draw-no-bet: Arsenal, Juventus

No comments:

Post a Comment