It’s time for Rafa to dig himself out of yet another hole

Yesterday The Spoiler picked out a four-team accumulator and were just one goal away from celebrating a tidy £104.70 profit. With Liverpool a tasty 21/10 on 888sport to win away to Lyon tonight, we’re relying on Rafa’s knack of delivering results when they matter most to make us some money. Here’s why we’re trusting the Reds:

» No team has ever done the double over Liverpool in the Champions League group stage since Rafael Benitez arrived in 2004 and only one side - Benfica in 2006 - have beaten the Reds twice in the same season in the competition.

» Liverpool have won their last four Champions League games in France, beating Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille (twice).

» Lyon have triumphed in just four of their last 12 home matches in the competition and were beaten 2-0 by regular strugglers Sochaux the last time they stepped foot in the Stade Gerland.

Click to claim £50 of free bets when opening an 888sport account

Our attempt to turn a £10 note into ten £10 notes

The Spoiler has a bit of a soft spot for Chris Hughton but he let us down badly last night by leaving the Hare well and truly malnourished at Bramall Lane - using him in only the last six minutes to render yesterday’s bet null and void.

Today, we’re taking no chances, pursuing an accumulator so that nothing besides the weather and floodlight failure can rule the bet pointless. We’re looking to turn £10 into £104.70 by backing Juventus, Porto, Wolfsburg and Manchester United to win tonight. Here’s why:

Maccabi Haifa v Juventus - The Israelis have lost all three of their matches so far without scoring.

APOEL v Porto - Porto won their first group meeting and over the past three seasons, whenever they do that they go on to complete a double.

Besiktas v Wolfsburg - A big ask, although Besiktas have lost four of their last ten home games and have scored just once this season in Europe.

Manchester United v CSKA Moscow - United are unbeaten in 23 Champions League matches at Old Trafford, of which they have won 18.

Combine these four together using the Betfair Coupon and you stand to win over ten times your initial stake!

Click here to claim a free £25 bet when opening a Betfair account 

USA/Brazil, Sunday 7.30pm, BBC Three, Betfair £25 Free Bet

The reaction of the American media to their national side ending Spain’s 35-game unbeaten streak may have been unbearable but it would have been just as bad - if not worse - over here if England had done it. The USA have made this pretty meaningless tournament worth watching and they will fancy their chances of winning it after seeing Brazil stumble past South Africa last night in the other semi-final. The bookies don’t though and some of the trends identified by our friends at chickendinner make it easy to see why:

1. Brazil have won 14 of their 15 matches against USA (one after extra-time). The USA’s one win over the holders came in the 1998 Gold Cup Final, with former Everton winger Predrag “Preki” Radosavljevic scoring the winner.

2. USA haven’t scored against Brazil in three previous Confederations Cup meetings, with Dunga’s side beating them 1-0 in 1999 and 2003 and winning 3-0 against them last Thursday.

England/Andorra, 8.15pm, ITV1, Free Bets, Best Odds

If there is one criticism of England under Fabio Capello, it’s that they take too long to break down minnows. It took them 49 minutes to score against Andorra in Barcelona, 52 to find a way past Kazakhstan at Wembley and then 40 away to them last weekend. Andorra boss David Rodrigo plans to frustrate the Three Lions tonight, although Betfair odds of 219/1 (actually down from 239/1 earlier today) show that he’s not expected to have much success. Here are some stats from our friends at chickendinner about tonight’s game:

Click here to claim a £25 no loss bet with Betfair

» England have won their three previous meetings with Andorra without conceding a goal, scoring ten in the process.

» Andorra coach Rodrigo’s claimed that “England have always had problems when they have played against us and have been made to work hard to get the first goal.” However, they were beaten 5-0 on their last trip to Wembley in 2006 with the opening goal coming in the fifth minute from Peter Crouch.

» The minnows have lost their last 20 competitive games and their overall record in qualifying games is P58 W1 D2 L55. They’ve taken just a point from

Don’t rush home from work, England take a while to get going

Our friends at chickendinner have been looking at ways for you to make money on tonight’s England match and believe that betting on the second-half containing more goals than the first is a sound bet. Here’s why:

» In each of England’s last five competitive games there have been more goals scored in the second half than there have in the opening forty-five.

» The margin by which the second-half has outscored the first has increased as the run has gone on:

World Cup Qualifier, 7.30pm, Setanta Sports 1, £10 Free Bet

Rather than just telling you why Wayne Rooney might score in Minsk, our friends at chickendinner have examined all ten likely outfield starters for England tonight and assessed each individual’s chances of scoring the opening goal:

Wayne Bridge - The left-back hasn’t scored in 21 months and his one international goal, against Iceland in 2004, was the sixth in that match.

Matthew Upson - He’s the only likely outfield starter without an international goal but his only goal in the last 22 months was an important one: West Ham’s winner against Manchester United last December.

Rio Ferdinand - Has only once managed to score in consecutive games in his career and even then only one was a first goal.

Wes Brown - Scored his first England goal at home to the Czech Republic

World Cup Qualifier, 5.15pm, ITV 1, £10 Free Bet

If England can score four goals in Croatia against a team that had never previously lost a home qualifier then surely they we can expect forty against a country that most people have only heard of because of Borat. But alas no. Lampard and Gerrard will celebrate their reunion by tripping over one another and the impatient home support will get angry when England fail to score in the first five minutes. Here’s why England will only win 2-0 or 3-0, according to our friends at chickendinner:

Why England will only score two or three

» England have score exactly two goals in each of Fabio Capello’s three games at Wembley, as well as in the last home game before his arrival, the 2-3 loss to Croatia.

» The Three Lions scored three goals in each of the three home games prior to that, which means that in the last seven England internationals at Wembley - England have always scored between two and three goals.

» From 2005 onwards, Kazakhstan’s heaviest margin of defeat in away qualifiers has been 3-0 losses to Denmark, Portugal and Croatia.

Click here for more invaluable betting advice including why Kazakhstan won’t score and why England will have to wait a while before breaking the deadlock.

Special Spoiler offer: Claim a £10 free bet with Paddy Power 

Victor Chandler slash Keegan’s odds to evens

Kevin Keegan is now evens in Victor Chandler’s Next Newcastle Manager market to succeed himself as the full-time boss at St James’ Park and start his fourth spell at the club he spent two seasons at as a player and two separate periods as manager.

Paddy Power still offer 6/5 on King Kev taking charge, which appears generous considering the reports that he is favoured choice of most of the potential owners, and you can take advantage of that price by clicking here for a free £10 bet.