Let’s take another looks at Gareth Bale’s Champions League final wondergoal, in the Real Madrid vs Liverpool game. It has to be one of the best goals of all time, and what a time to score it.
As Chelsea try to keep their UEFA Champions League hopes alive, they travel to Wales to play Swansea City. The Jacks are in a poor run of form, with a solitary win in their last six. They’ll be hoping for something here, but Chelsea – majorly improved in the last two – will smell blood here.
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The home side will be reliant on their midfield to keep things tight again. The trio of Andy King, Ki Sung-yeung and Tom Carroll provides them with ball playing skills, with the hope that they can play around the midfield duo of N’Golo Kante and Cesc Fabregas.
Up front, they’ll be looking to Jordan Ayew to produce the goods, with Sam Clucas and Andre Ayew looking to make the most of their pace on the flanks. If they are to get anything here, though, they need Alfie Mawson and Mike van der Hoorn to show up and put in an imperious performance after a shellacking in their last match.
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Meanwhile, the Blues rock into Wales looking a little light at the back. Marcos Alonso sits out this one, as does David Luiz and Ethan Ampadu. The trio of defenders leaves Antonio Conte a touch light at the back, and he’ll need to get creative at the back. However, with Chelsea’ propensity for dominating the ball and their ability to get in the opposition box, we expect them to push Swansea really hard for the three points here.
Verdict
It’s hard to say, but we think a draw could be on the cards. Chelsea have handled tough matches like this with ease recently, though, and will want to put the pressure on Liverpool and Tottenham with a positive result. With Liverpool playing bogey team Stoke we suspect they’ll get out of this one with a positive result.
We all no doubt enjoy the Premier League, countless thousands of fans attend competitive – and sometimes not so competitive – match ups week in week out, and pay for expensive season tickets for the privilege. Then of course we have football’s armstair supporters, who pay for a pricey cable or satellite subscription every much in order to keep up to date on the performance of their favourite football team. But exciting as the Premier League may be, the ultimate test of a team’s quality extends well beyond domestic games and into international competitions, and the cream of the crop of those just has to be the UEFA Champions League.
Held each year the UEFA Champions League brings together the top football teams from several European Nations in a league format, followed by a knockout competition. Qualifying for the competition itself isn’t easy for teams due to fierce competition in knock out rounds to decide who makes the cut. To give an idea of the magnitude of the competition in the modern game, the 2012 – 13 final drew an unbelievable TV audience of more than 350 million viewers. It’s of course a favourite with betting markets too, as football fans put their money where their mouth is and bet on their team in Champions League to progress through the competition. Available bets are so varied nowadays, HT-FT markets, correct core, number of cards, and more besides!
The Champions League has been running from the 1950’s onwards, so there’s certainly enough data at this point to judge the men from the boys in terms of who routinely dismantles their competitors. The answer is actually quite straighforward in this case since Real Madrid are winners of the Champions League an impressive 12 times in total (and runners up 3 times – suggesting that if they make it to the final, you underestimate them at your peril!). They won the tournament 5 years in a row in the 1950’s and also won in 2017 – beat that! Next up is Milan with 7 wins and 4 runner up positions. Not too shabby!
Where do the English teams rank I hear you ask? Well Liverpool have really shown their quality over the decades by managing to pick up the trophy 5 times in total, including their memorable 3 – 3 draw against Milan in 2004 – 5 where Liverpool managed to evenually sneak the win on penalties. Still, it doesn’t matter how you do it, just as long as you do! Manchester United are three time winners too, last winning tthe Champions League back in 2008. The only English team to win the touranment since that time is Chelsea in 2012 – which was also the only time they’ve won the Champions next. Who will be the next English team to lift the trophy I wonder?
This weekend, Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion will meet up for a game that feels increasingly pointless. United are more or less secure in the UEFA Champions League spots, and it would take a miracle to avoid an Albion relegation. What do we expect, then?
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The home team comes into this one with a bit of a spring in their step. The 3-2 comeback at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City might just offer fresh impetus to a United team that looked out of sync with their manager.
The impressive return to form of Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba will play a key role in United getting something from this. While beating West Brom is hardly a major achievement in this season, United should have more than enough to dominate here without much issue.
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West Brom come to Old Trafford with very little to play for. More or less already down, it would be hard to imagine anything other than a comprehensive United win. They simply lack the credentials to do the damage needed at Old Trafford. With the defence, usually so resolute, even looking so easy to breach now, there’s little to say about this West Brom side from a positive sense.
They lack in more or less every department, with a dour midfield and a patchy forward pairing who don’t seem to work together.
Verdict
It’s hard to call anything other than a United win in this one. West Brom are awful, and come into this one with a solitary draw in six. They have a shocking record this season, and would be utterly reliant on Craig Dawson and Ahmed Hegazi to do them a favour and keep out Lukaku and co. We can’t see it at this moment in time.
After an outrageous night at Anfield on Wednesday, Liverpool travel across Stanley Park to take on Everton. The Blues are desperate for a derby win, but consistently poor performances in the big games means confidence going into the Derby is brittle at best.
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The Toffees come into this one needing to find some consistency – and fast. A massive injury list including James McCarthy, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Mason Holgate, Idrissa Gueye and Tom Davies leaves the Blues with a very light looking side.
The sheer volume of injuries will likely force them into a different kind of shape. While Gueye might make it the rest are more or less an excessive doubt. It makes the mental challenge of overcoming Liverpool a whole lot tougher when you factor in the need to make late changes. With so little in reserve, can Everton manage that?
Meanwhile, Liverpool are heavily sweating over the health of Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian is arguably the best player in the league this season, but a groin tweak could cause major issues for their season. The lack of Adam Lallana, Joel Matip, Ragnar Klavan and Joe Gomez means they are light in the middle and at the back, too.
We expect some major rotation from the Reds, with so many players out at present it makes sense. The likely absence of Emre Can and Mo Salah will make coming up with a team that can win the derby even harder for Jürgen Klopp.
Verdict
We think Liverpool will edge it. Everton will be up for it, especially at home. Sam Allardyce will be desperate for a major win before his likely departure in the summer, too. Liverpool, though, know a win here is vital and, despite potential rotation, should pick-up three points in the derby.