Football betting: It all begins again

It barely seems like yesterday that Lionel Messi was rising high in the penalty area to head home Barcelona’s second goal against Manchester United to basically clinch the 2009 Champions League. Here we are again in August and this week sees the remaining Champions League qualifiers slug it out for a place in the group stages.

The pick of the bunch will be the all British affair between Celtic and Arsenal. The Gunners are fresh from their hugely impressive 6-1 demolition of Everton at the weekend and are rightly installed as favourites at 1.80. I expect Arsene Wenger to field a full strength side and while Celtic will provide game opponents, their best chance of success will be by taking advantage of their huge home support and trying to take a slender first leg lead back to the Emirates.

Celtic start as 4.25 outsiders for the first leg and based on the fact that they are the home side in the first leg then that kind of tells its own story. The odds for an Arsenal victory in this tie have shortened substantially over the weekend after the way that they performed at Goodison Park and that is hardly surprising given how many question marks were hanging over Arsene Wengers side after losing key players in the summer to Manchester City.

Another interesting tie is being played on Wednesday between Panathinaikos and Atletico Madrid. This is really one of those either or ties and while I expect Atletico to prevail over the two legs, the first leg in Greece could go either way. Panathinaikos start as slender favourites at 2.45 with the Spaniards at 2.65.

There is little seasonal form to go on with both of these teams although the Greeks did have to battle hard in the previous qualifying round against Sparta Prague only coming through 4-3 on aggregate. Atletico Madrid on the other hand have yet to play a competitive game this season having only played four friendlies and two games in the Emirates Cup.

So it is possible that the two competitive games that Panathinaikos have played could yet give them an edge and it will be interesting to see just how much match sharpness the Madrid side actually have on Wednesday night.

One of the dark horses for the title kick off their campaign on Tuesday and that is Olympique Lyonnais. They have consistently been the best side in France now for a good number of years and Claude Puel’s side could reach the semi-finals again this year.

I expect them to dispatch the Belgians of Anderlecht and are rightly only 1.50 for the first leg and 1.20 for the tie overall. Lyonnais have come close to reaching the Champions League final in the past but have lacked the extra power of the big Premier League and La Liga teams in the latter stages.

It promises to be an interesting nights football and anyone with a keen eye for price should spot value somewhere. For me though there is always value to be had in the early stages of the season as players are trying to fit into systems and sides are finding their feet. Results have yet to be established and many of the prices are based mainly on last seasons form which is not always indicative of what is currently happening.

My bet of the day is Lyonnais to be ahead at half time at a nice 1.95, that sort of price for a team who is likely to dominate is really too good to pass up.

By Carl “The Dean” Sampson