A night of mixed fortunes for the English in Europe
Fiorentina 2/ Liverpool 0
“I have never seen us struggle so badly as in the first half - it was a poor performance.” A damning indictment of Liverpool’s performance in Tuscany last night from Rafa, as Stevan Jovetic - dubbed “The Montenegrin Messi” - bagged a brace. Liverpool now have some catching up to do in Group E.
Arsenal 2/ Olympiakos 0
Despite total dominance over the Greeks, the Gunners left it late to claim three points: RVP struck on 78 minutes, while Andrei Arshavin sealed it with a suspiciously offside effort on 86. Olympiakos boss Zico didn’t accuse the officials of being biased, but did note that three of them were French.
Some expert advice for the weekend’s activities from Sporting Index
In case you hadn’t noticed, all the cool kids are making their ritual viewing of Soccer Saturday a little more interesting with the help of spread betting. Our friends at Sporting Index are the go-to-guys for this money making art, and they have kindly provided previews of two of this weekend’s big clashes…
Stoke/ Manchester Utd
The Red Devils follow their derby triumph with a trip to the Britannia Stadium, where the Potters lost just four games last season. The comparisons drawn between Stoke’s home and Burnley’s Turf Moor are extremely welcome to sellers of United’s win index spread, as the Clarets, of course, defeated United there earlier in the season. Spread punters who followed the progress of Tony Pulis’s first top-flight season will remember, however, that United were one of the several clubs to leave the Britannia with three points, thanks only to a late Carlos Tevez goal. Chelsea are the only other member of the Big Four to play there so far this season and also required a last gasp winner. Buyers of the time of the last match goal will hope for a similar spread make-up on Saturday.
Fulham/ Arsenal
Due to their demolition jobs on Everton, Portsmouth and Wigan
The private beef which caused Emmanuel Adebayor to moonwalk over Robin van Persie’s face a fortnight ago has been revealed to be the same reason he fell out with Nicklas Bendtner last season - an unhealthy shoe obsession.
According to the News of the World, following Arsenal’s final day win against Stoke last season, Emmanuel knee-slid into the Gunners’ dressing room with an extra-strength bin liner and (as one club rep put it) ’swept the place’, bagging as much of his team-mates’ kit as would fit - including a pair of boots Robin van Persie had planned to give to friends - before hauling ass.
A member of the Arsenal backroom staff was left break the news to the players:
“We never saw him - or the boots - again. Robin was going mad.
… revealed in the fascinating trends and statistics below
The bookmakers seem to agree on the 15 leading contenders to be next season’s Premier League top-scorer. they are:
Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Robinho, Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor, Dimitar Berbatov, Jermain Defoe, Carlos Tevez, Andrei Arshavin, Frank Lampard and Roque Santa Cruz.
Through a process of elimination, our stat-lovin’ friends at chickendinner have discovered that Nicolas Anelka will not successfully defend his top scorer award, and the eventual winner is quite surprising.
Here it comes…
Over the last decade Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (2000-01) is the only player to have won it in his first season with a new club. That rules out: Michael Owen, Carlos Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz
The last nine winners were all playing for a Big Four side. That rules out: Robinho, Jermain Defoe
Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to have been Premier League top-scorer without always playing as an out-and-out striker. That rules out: Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrei Arshavin
The last British top-scorer was Kevin Phillips in 1999-00. That rules out: Wayne Rooney
Still standing: Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Robin van
Arsenal have underperformed in their two previous semi-final matches this season but Arsene Wenger is confident that his side will deliver tonight and the statistics support him. And if Emmanuel Adebayor can keep his head out of the Milanese clouds for just 90 minutes, his partnership with Robin van Persie could make the difference. Our friends at chickendinner give five reasons why Arsenal could do it…
1. Arsenal have won two and drawn one of their three home games against Manchester United at the Emirates.
2. The Gunners are currently enjoying their best home form of the season having won six straight matches there.
3. Arsene Wenger’s side have conceded just one goal
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