Villa, Bolton, Troyes and the "overs" at Mallorca and Evian all obliged rather comfortably (maybe Bolton aside who were happy to sit on their lead) and it was a quick recovery from the train wreck which was Friday evening !
Two emails again today, three early kick offs in this and in the follow up which will be with you by 13.00 UK time, we will look at the evening matches and the normal Sunday preview of the final round of the US golf tour event.
FA Cup: Millwall - Blackburn Rovers
With Manchester City and Wigan Athletic already through to the semi finals, Rovers here and Manchester United in the late game, can make it a North West only, final four today. I see this match as a true coin flip , so have to take the visitors at the odds offered. Doubtless the New Den will be jumping, but it is a far less intimidating atmoshpere than the old ground and visiting teams and supporters do not arrive with knees knocking.
The Lions have lost four of their last five home starts, the only win in that sequence was a 2-1 defeat of Aston Villla in the previous round and the visitors arrived emotionally drained and physically empty after losing a Capital One Cup semi final just three days earlier and really were Daniel into the Lion's Den, lbeit with a less favourable outcome. Millwall have had a very strange season, collecting eight points from their first nine games, 28 from their next 13, which saw them inside the playoff places approaching Christmas, yet winning just twice and losing nine of their next 13 . They are getting very close to the drop zone, but do have two games in hand over most and should be OK, but their form overall and especially at home, where they have already lost eight times, the same as Bristol City and Barnsley, who are both in the drop zone, is a major cause for concern. In those four recent home defeats, they only managed one goal , which came in a 5-1 thumping by Peterb orough United , but arguably, the midweek loss to Wolves, who had not won in 13 starts previously, was even more worrying. With the toothless Lions managing just five attempts on goal.
Rovers looked to be on the up under Michael Appleton and I wrote this about them last month ... Michael Appleton was a surprise choice for the job at Ewood Park, but he has quickly brought a bit of stability to the club and encouraging consecutive wins over Derby County and Bristol City, scoring five goals and keeping cleansheets in both, have raised playoff hopes. Rovers sit in 13th place, seven points adrift of Middlesbrough who hold the final post season spot at present and their next five starts are against teams above them in the table, so every win will also take points off a direct rival for that top six finish.
Appleton has been busy this week signing 18 yo striker Anton Forrester from Everton, the coach worked under David Moyes at Preston, so you can be sure that the Scotsman will not have sold him a dud ! Deals were also completed for DJ Campbell and Lee Williamson, the latter played under the manager at former club Portsmouth and DJ has been chased by half the clubs in the Championship. He scored ten goals in 17 starts for Ipswich Town earlier this season and he will be very motivated to start, as will right back Bradley Orr, who looked set to spend all season at Town on loan, but was brought back by Appleton, who immediately handed him a starting place. That pair will know plenty about their opponents today.
After the win at Derby in the cup, Rams boss Nigel Clogh said ....."Blackburn were a bit too good for us, their experience and physical strength shone through and our young lads found them hard to handle."Jordan Rhodes and Colin [Kazim] Richards are as big a handful as any attacking partnership at our level and it was also a tough task for our kids to come up against a player like Danny Murphy in midfield."
The fact that Appleton has added to that offensive threat after that recommendation is a clear indication that they have not yet given up on a promotion charge and that has to mean three points today.
They edged that 1-0, but another cleansheet was noteworthy and they will travel with confidence today after dominating, despite drawing, the very recent meeting between the two. That ended 1-1 at Ewood Park on January 22nd, just three weeks ago, but Rovers look much improved , especially defensively since then, after the match , Appleton said "We did look comfortable - that's the most disappointing thing. "We controlled the game in terms of we knew exactly how Brighton play - there was a gameplan in terms of how we would set up and how we would deal with them. "Having spent much of this season coaching on the South Coast, he knows Brighton very well and is very confident he can put out a team to beat the Seagulls.
We got two wins out of them and they also recorded a famous win at The Emirates in the last round of the FA cup, but they have collected just one point from five league games since. Appleton reported that the team have been buzzing in training this week and were really up and focused on the competition, he has several injuries and players cup-tied, but Leon Best returned from long term injury in midweek and the coach will choose fromKean, Orr, Givet, Lowe, Best, Rhodes, Pedersen, Murphy, Markus Olsson, King, Dann, Nuno Gomes, Rekik, Goodwillie, Henley, Sandomierski, Hanley and Bentley.
Players like Best, Jordan Rhodes, Morten Gamst Pedersen, David Bentley, Danny Murphy, Gael Givet, Scott Dann etc give them a real touch of class and this is still a group with plenty of top flight quality, something that Millwall simply do not have, even if some of it is a little long in the tooth. Anyway, this perhaps final shot (for some) at the big time , with a Wembley final against one of the Manchester giants, or a win-able tie with Wigan, is a huge incentive .
The Lions have found the loss of their two top scorer's Chris Wood ( 19-11-3) and Darius Henderson (20-7-2) to bigger Championship team,s impossible to overcome, they signed veteran striker Rob Hulse on loan from QPR, he has not scored in four appearances and not played since the Posh debacle, but has trained this week and will surely come into the squad. However, midfielder James Henry (29-5-8), striker Benik Afobe (25-2-2 ... for Bolton and Millwall) and left winger Martyn Woolford (24-4-2) are all sidelined. Henry is hugely influential and will be sorely missed, both today and for the rest of the season. Hosts will leave nothing on the pitch, but I will side with the team with a little more quality and take 1.5 units Blackburn Rovers level ball 2.23 asian line/ Ibramarket.
Serie A : Palermo - Siena
We previewed Palermo's draw at Torino last week ..... They (Palermo) played very well in the first half against Chievo , led and really should have gone in at the break two up, which would have killed the game off.
Incredibly, well, I would like to say incredibly, but this is Serie A and Palermo, the hosts have sacked coach Alberto Malesani after just three games in charge and reappointed Gian Piero Gasperini 20 days after he left the club ! Six points from safety and with a tough road schedule ahead of them and needing to pick up as many points as possible, this is about as easy as it is going to get for Palermo away from Sicily.
Palermo travel without suspended left back Salvatore Aronica (12-0-0) and midfielder Édgar Barreto (23-0-0), but this is less about personnel than desire from here on in and I feel that the visitors have the talent to at least get back in touch with the clubs above them in the table.
Now they fave a real six pointer with both teams in the drop zone, five points from safety , but with this game in hand over Genoa , who currently sit in the promised land of 17th place. A point is not going to help either team much and I suspect both to be going all out for the win. Hosts get Salvatore Aronica back from suspension and are only really missing Édgar Barreto,they have made their intention clear enough, when you see a Serie A team name the same number of forwards as defenders, you know they will be targeting the victory . Siena appear to have brought everyone, including the man who changes the filter on the espresso maker. They do miss experienced and veteran defensive midfielder Simone Vergassola ( 24-2-2), the protection he brings to the backline is key and the visitors have lost all three starts he has missed witha 7-0 goal difference, conceding at least two in each, he also left the home game with Catania just after half time, Siena led 1-0 at the bre ak and lost 3-1. I think we can say he is important ! There was also talk of a bug in the Siena camp this week, they claim that is now cleared up, but they have travelled with a big squad, so, who knows ? Anyway, hosts all the way for me, although these games should always produce goals and the 2.20 for three or more is tempting , but I will opt for 1.5 units Palermo -0.75 ball 2.25 asian line/ Ibramarket.
Palermo: Benussi, Brichetto, Sorrentino,Aronica, Dossena, Garcia, Morganella, Munoz, Nelson, Von Bergen, Anselmo, Arevalo Rios, Donati, Faurlin, Formica, Ilicic, Kurtic, Boselli, Dybala, Fabbrini, Malele, Miccoli, Sperduti.
Siena: Farelli, Marini, Pegolo; Angelo, Belmonte, Felipe, Grillo, Paci, Rubin, Teixeira, Terlizzi, Uvini; Agra, Bolzoni, Calello, Della Rocca, Mannini, Sestu, Valiani, Verre; Bogdani, Emeghara, Paolucci, Reginaldo, Rosina.
Ligue 1: Nice-Montpellier
Stellar season fron Nice who have caught a lot of people by surprise, they have not finished higher than eighth in the last decade and would move back up level with St Etienne in fourth spot with the win this afternoon. However, there have been signs recently that the bigger clubs are showing them much greater respect and taking games against Nice very seriously, with Lyon, Bordeaux and St Etienne, beating them by a combined 8-0. Today they will be without suspended midfielder Kévin Anin ( 8-0-0 ...he has played the holding role in four on Nice's five 2013 wins) and offensive midfielder Valentin Eysseric ( 24-5-1.... not posted awin in the three matches he missed early season), also out injured are striker and top scorer Darío Cvitanich (20-12-3), midfielder Mahamane Traoré ( 18-2-1), centre back Nemanja Pejcinovic (23-3-0) and right winger Jérémy Pied (20-0-4). That is six pretty big players, from what is the youngest squad in Ligue 1.
Montpellier really struggled to deal with both a title defence and Champions League campaign early season, but after picking up just eight points from their first 9 starts, have collected 18 from the next two series of nine games and that would see them level at the top with PSG, if they could have started at the same level. As it is, the win today will take them into 5th and definitely still in the hunt for a return to that addictive CL football. They have a tremendous record in this series, winning on their last four visits and the last three home meetings, including a very dominant performance in an easy 3-1 win earlier in the campaign and have not lost to Nice in a decade.Defensive midfielder Marco Estrada (19-3-0) has not travelled and is a loss, but hardly comparable to the problems of the hosts. Apparently coach Rene Girard has been told this week that he will not be offered a new contract in the summer, which seems incredible, in his three seasons they hav e finished 5-14-1 since coming up from Ligue 2 , I doubt he will be out of work for long ! 1.5 units Montpellier level ball 2.08 asian line/ Ibramarket.
Nice : Delle, Ospina,Civelli, Genevois, Gomis, Kolodziejczak, Palun, Rougeaux, Abriel, Bruins, Diaz, Digard, Meriem, Rafetraniaina,Bahoken, Bauthéac, Bosetti, Maupay
Montpellier : Pionnier, Hilton, Utaka, Mounier, Charbonnier, Belhanda, Herrera, Congré, Pitau, Jourdren, Camara, El Kaoutari, Stambouli, Deplagne, Dabo, Martin, Legras, Mézague, Coulomb
Good Luck.
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