Carling Cup Betting Analysis 9-10th January
Pinnacle Sports offer their betting tips and analysis for the coming Carling Cup soccer action between 9th and 10th January 2007.
Liverpool Out for Swift Revenge after Gunners Defeat on Saturday
Liverpool and Arsenal meet on Tuesday night for the second time in three days. The pair should have fought out their Carling Cup quarter-final at Anfield on December 20th, but thick fog forced the game to be abandoned 1hr before kick-off, and the Reds still looked lost by the end of Saturday's FA Cup encounter with the Gunners. Arsenal dumped the holders out of the competition, with a 3-1 win, that ended the Pool's twenty-game unbeaten home record. Arsene Wenger pulled off a tactical coup with a counter-attacking game-plan that worked like clockwork. The Londoners absorbed everything Liverpool threw at them, before killing the game with two first-half Thomas Rosicky strikes.
The Scousers must now pick themselves up and try to end a three game losing streak against Arsenal, having lost emphatically at the Emirates Stadium in November. The home side started favourites on Saturday with Pinnacle Sports, boasting an excellent run of home form, as well as some formidable defensive stats (nine clean-sheets from ten games). The question bettors are now faced with is whether this game will follow the same pattern and end with a similar result. Pinnacle Sports retain Liverpool as favourites 1.952 (-0.5), with Arsenal still in receipt of half a goal, 1.971 (+0.5), despite winning by two on Saturday. As with the FA Cup encounter on the weekend, neither manager will want a draw as a replay will put further pressure on their already congested fixture list. With Arsenal unlikely to adopt a more adventurous approach, and Liverpool relied on to stick to their attacking style, urged on by a full house, it's as you were gentlemen.
Both sides were close to full strength on Saturday, with Arsenal bolstered by the return of captain Thierry Henry, who despite scoring a trademark goal late-on, still looked short of full match-fitness. The only significant omission from either side was Liverpool's first choice goalkeeper, Jose Reina, who was rested in favour of Jerzy Dudek, but even if both the Reds' goalies had been between the sticks, they still wouldn't have stopped Rosicky's opening strike. It is however, likely that both managers will ring the changes on Tuesday, as the Carling Cup is much lower priority than FA Cup, Premiership or Champions League. Craig Bellamy has been in fine form for Liverpool, but spent the almost the entire time on Saturday warming-up on the touch-line, he could rejoin strike-partner Dirk Kuyt in the starting line-up, while Sammy Hyppia might return to the side after sitting out on the weekend. The Gunners are approaching full strength, and could recall Freddie Ljungberg and Theo Walcott, though Emmanuel Adebayor is still a few days away from recovery.
Mourinho Forced to Move Furniture Around Facing Chairboys
At first glance Chelsea's first-leg Carling Cup semi-final away to Division Two Wycombe Wanderers - a full 71 places below them in the football league hierarchy - looks like a classic David and Goliath encounter, where the Giant should prevail. The Premiership Champions faced Macclesfield, second from bottom of the same division, in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and ran out 6-1 winners. However, the score-line doesn't tell the whole story. The Silkmen's goalie was sent off after 50 minutes with the score at 2-1 to the home side, and with no replacement on the bench, captain and defender John Morley put on the gloves. His first task was to pick Frank Lampard's penalty out of the back of the net, and three more goals followed.
The Blues may not have things so easily at Adam's Park on Wednesday night, travelling to Buckinghamshire with no available centre-backs as a result of injury and suspension, and with top-scorer Didier Drogba suspended. In captain John Terry's absence, Chelsea have conceded in four of their last five fixtures, drawing three of them, and Andriy Shevchenko cannot buy a goal, failing to score even when faced on Saturday by a make-shift stopper.
A minor crisis in the Premiership is obviously less of a concern against such lesser opposition. Chelsea are yet to concede in their path to the last four, and one of the club's assets under Mourinho is their love of a scrap, and they are certain to get that with Wycombe. The Chairboys have fully earned their semi-final place, having won 1-0 at Premiership Charlton, but the club have won just two of their last eight fixtures, and lightning may well have to strike for there to be an upset. Pinnacle Sports rate Chelsea 1.763 (-1.5) with Wycombe 2.21 (+1.5).
Wycombe do at least have a history of upsets, in 2001 an FA Cup-run took them to the semi-finals, where Liverpool needed 75 minutes to break the deadlock. The club have, however, dropped a division since then, and may just have to settle for a bumper gate receipt and an enjoyable second leg at Stamford Bridge.
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