The competition got off to a lively start on Friday, with Poland impressing in the first half against the Greeks before allowing their opponents back into a game which saw two red cards.

The 1-1 draw will have been a disappointment to head coach Franciszek Smuda, who saw his side dominate periods of the game against Greece, before being undone by their own goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Having been at fault for the Greek goal, the Arsenal man saw red and was in great debt to substitute keeper Przemyslaw Tyton, who saved the resulting penalty to keep Poland’s Euro 2012 campaign very much alive.

Tyton looks set to start between the sticks against the Russians at the National Stadium in the absence of the suspended Szczesny.

In attack the Poles will once again be looking to striker Robert Lewandowski (5/1 first goalscorer), who has continued to be linked with a move to Premier League giants Manchester United.

The 23-year-old Borussia Dortmund star looked like a threat throughout the first half against the Greeks and really got the home fans cheering with the opening goal of the tournament.

Poland will certainly need the supporters to be a 12th man in this game against a very talented Russia side, who took apart the Czechs in their opening encounter.

The Russian’s looked extremely dangerous in attack especially their exciting talent Alan Dzagoev (7/1 first goalscorer), who could well turn out to be a star of this tournament, having bagged himself a brace on Friday night.

Andrey Arshavin, who was largely disappointing in the Premier League with Arsenal this season before making a loan move back to his homeland with Zenit St Petersburg, looked back in the form that made him such an attractive prospect for the north London outfit.

The Russian skipper looked dangerous against the Czech Republic and the Poles will have to keep tabs on the 31-year-old on Tuesday night.

Russia (11/1 Euro 2012 outright) would go a long way to securing top spot in their group and booking their place in the knockout stages of the tournament in Poland and the Ukraine with a victory over the co-hosts, before taking on the struggling Greeks.

This really is a must-win game for Poland if they want to stand a realistic chance of making the quarter-finals to most likely face the winners of Group D, which could well be France or England.

However, based on Russia’s opening performance and their recent free-scoring form, with a 3-0 win over Italy in their previous game, it’s hard to look past Arshavin leading his talented side to another victory.

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The two Manchester giants go into Sunday’s finale level on points with City on top courtesy of a much better goal difference.

In theory, there is still hope for Sir Alex Ferguson and his men but the match betting and common sense suggests that it will be the blue half of Manchester celebrating come Sunday night (City 1/10, United 11/2 Premier League Outright).

City have only failed to pick up maximum points on one occasion at the Etihad Stadium this season and, having been given a second chance, they are not going to let the title slip away.

QPR are the visitors on Sunday and although they have been picking up wins to keep them out of the relegation zone, all those recent successes have come at Loftus Road.

Mark Hughes may like to make a point to his previous employers but his team have been awful on the road, with a paltry eleven points easily the Premier League’s worst record, while they suffered a 6-1 drubbing on their last outing at Chelsea.

United could still win on goal difference but City have smashed in 52 goals in 18 matches at home and are likely to score  more against the Hoops – making United’s trip to Sunderland irrelevant.

Three teams are still chasing two places for next season’s Champions League, meanwhile, which could be reduced to one depending on Chelsea’s result in this year’s final.

Arsenal (1/33 Top 4 Finish) are still in control of third place despite last week’s hiccup against Norwich following a 3-3 draw at the Emirates, while Spurs (1/10) were held 1-1 at Aston Villa and Newcastle (9/2) were beaten 2-0 by City.

The Gunners are one point better off than arch rivals Tottenham and two clear of Newcastle with a game to go, and know that a win will guarantee Champions League football next term.

Arsene Wenger’s men are on the road as they travel to the Hawthorns to take on West Brom and have failed to win any of their last four matches, but the French tactician will not let his charges slip up at the last hurdle.

Arsenal are 4/6 to register the win and it is hard to argue as West Brom (4/1 to win, Draw 3/1) have struggled in front of their own fans with just six wins at the Hawthorns this season.

Robin van Persie is, of course, the man to watch out for as he looks to cement his position at the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts, having notched 30 in 36 games so far, and he is the 3/1 favourite to score the first or last on Sunday.

Earlier in the season, Tottenham were making it look as though it was a three-horse race for the title but they then endured a torrid run to hand the initiative back to the Gunners.

Harry Redknapp’s men, though, are at least expected to seal a place in the top four (Spurs 4/11, Draw 4/1, Fulham 8/1 Match Betting) as they have home advantage against poor travellers Fulham, who will be without their top scorer Clint Dempsey through injury.

The Lilywhites will then have to put on their Bayern Munich scarves for the Champions League final as a Chelsea win in the showpiece will condemn them to Europa League football next term.

Newcastle have been one, if not THE, surprise package of the season, having made a fist of the Champions League race for so long – and they still are in with a chance going into the last game.

However, the season may well just have caught up with them now and they face a tough trip to Goodison Park to take on an in-form Everton side -who have the carrot of finishing above arch rivals Liverpool with a win themselves.

The Toffees have not been conceding many at home as they have rallied from another slow start to finish with a flourish.

David Moyes’ men have only conceded two goals in their last nine home games, losing just one, while they have banged in 10 in their last three – and also scored four at Old Trafford – with Nikica Jelavic (5/1 First/Last Gaolscorer, 11/8 Anytime) continuing his rich vein of form.

Newcastle have certainly set the Premier League alight this season with their brand of football and although they are set to fail at the final hurdle, a fifth-placed finish above Chelsea and Liverpool is still a remarkable achievement.

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Barcelona can wrap up the title on Wednesday, regardless of what Real Madrid do on Tuesday night, when they travel to Levante and it is difficult to see them not justifying 3/10 favouritism in the match betting.

Levante are priced at 10/1 to cause a shock, with the draw on offer at 4/10, but the season has started to fall away for the Granotes and they are currently on a three-game winless streak with nothing left to play for.

Barca have an impressive way record, easily the best in La Liga, and although they suffered their only defeat on their travels the last time they played away – a 2-1 defeat at Real Sociedad – there were mitigating circumstances for that defeat.

The Catalans fielded an understrength line-up for the clash yet still dominated, only to be undone late on, having substituted both centre-halves, while the game came the weekend before a crunch Champions League semi-final against arch rivals Real.

With a place secured at Wembley, Barca can now concentrate on the league and needing just a point from their remaining three games to guarantee the title, they can do it at the earliest opportunity and in the best possible style.

Lionel Messi has underlined why he is considered the best player in the world time and time again this season and is an obvious candidate in the goalscoring markets (9/4 to score two or more) but it may pay to side with Pedro to open the scoring at 7/2 as he is the one who generally makes the runs behind the defenders.

The Blaugrana have scored 45 times away from home in La Liga and with the pressure off against a side looking forward to their holidays, goals look a very real possibility at the Ciutat de Valencia.

Barcelona to score in both halves is available at 21/20 and Pep Guardiola’s men are also worthy of support on the handicap (-1) at 20/23.

Valencia bounced back to form with a 3-0 over Real Sociedad on Saturday and can confirm their third place with victory as 13/10 favourites at Espanyol at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat.

Los Che have easily been the third best team in the division – they have a five-point cushion over Villarreal – and boast an impressive away record with 10 victories on the road this year – bettered only by Barca and Real.

Espanyol (17/10 to win, 9/4 the draw) have been difficult to beat at home, losing just five times, but their season is stalling at just the wrong time with just one win in their last six games.

A massive game in the relegation battle takes place at the Estadio Municipal de Anoeta with Real Sociedad (Evens in the match betting) taking on Real Zaragoza (23/10 to win, 9/4 the draw).

It has been a case of all or nothing for these two sides of late and with only one draw at the ground all season it is difficult to envisage another on Wednesday night.

It would be risky taking the 23/10 on the away win unless Zaragoza can reproduce the performance at the Bernabeu 11 days ago when they beat Real 3-2 – on the same evening Sociedad came from behind to beat Barcelona at home.

However, that was only a second road win this term for Zaragoza but with 10 home wins behind them, Sociedad look to have a great chance to pull further clear from the drop zone.

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Although we’ve updated our eurovision sweepstake kit and many of our Eurovision Party tips from last year are still good ideas for this years knees up, our hosts are now Norway who really know how to party so its worth updating our advice with some extra hints and tips.

Traditionally, Norwegians are hunters, fishermen and winter-sportswomen. All themes which are hard to translate to a Eurovision style party, but in the interests of helping our faithful readers we’ve given it our best shot.

Viking Theme

An obvious theme but one which will surely be fun. Whether you encourage guests to go all out fancy dress or allow access to anyone wearing ugg boots and some paper horns stuck onto their hat, its a style which even those men who normally refuse to even consider dressing up will generally attempt. Decorate your home with piles of ‘gold and treasure’, plastic axes and shiny shields made of cardboard covered tinfoil.

Aurora Borealis Evening

Anyone with one of those swanky lights which washes the wall with light and changes colour will be able to mock up a northern lights display to rival the Aurora, at least after a few glasses of aquavit. Light the remainder of the room with just twinkling stars (fairylights) and the glow of the widescreen TV and you’ll have a magical setting. After everyone has marvelled at your creativity switch the lighting to ‘disco pulse’ and you’ll have an instant disco to end the night in style.

Red, Blue and White

Drape the Norwegian flag over tables, walls and balconies, tell everyone that they will only be able to attend if dressed in red, white or blue and theme your food along the same lines – this is quite easy even if you wish to stick to the Norwegian food theme using the traditional bright red sausage, lingonberries, cheese, pickled herring and blue potatoe salad (no really – Adirondack potatoes. Its that or blueberries)

a-ha!

Perhaps best known for their awesome ‘Take on Me’ video in the early 80’s, a-ha are probably Norways most famous mainstream musical export, and seem worthy of a themed Eurovision party, although they have never represented their country in this greatest of all musical challenges.  Use an online image search for ‘aha video’ and print out some poster sized prints to decorate your walls*, encourage everyone to wear a quiff or floppy fringe for the evening and make the dress code bleached denim. If I thought my wombles confession was embarrasing last year, its nothing to confessing that I had a Morten Harkett picture on my wall.

Norweigan food ideas

Food is an essential part of any Eurovision Party – the classic Norwegian favourite of smoked salmon is popular in the Uk and through most of the world, making it an easy choice both to source and be sure your guests will enjoy. For the slightly more adventerous, why not try rollmops – while not quite authentic Norwegian pickled herring they have the advantage of being available in jars next to the pickled onions in nearly all deli’s and supermarkets.

If you decide to stick with cold food, you could setup a smorgasbord (properly, in Norway, this is called a koldtbord). Include breads, Norwegian butter and cheese (Jarlsberg, Ridder and Gjetost are available in the UK), smoked and pickled fish, cold meats, sausages (generally in Norway pork sausages are preferred – good Deli’s may sell prinskorv, a small hot dog style sausage, but pork chipolata’s will embrace the Eurovision spirit without offending any Scandinavians present.) Add some potato dishes and you’ll have a good selection.

If you fancy hot food, then Polser, or hotdog sausages, served in soft white buns is an easy and authentic Norwegian partyfood. Alternatively meatballs in a tomato sauce make a good hearty mopping-up-the-alcohol meal which nearly everyone will enjoy. Traditionally made of beef, you could consider adding some Elk meat (yes, this is available online, or use venison which is more locally sourced for most of us). Ikea are also currently offering moose-lasagne for £1.50 a portion which doesn’t sound very traditional to us, but has the virtue of being quick, cheap and easy, if you can pursuade your local store to sell you a tray to take home.

Skal!

And of course no Eurovision Party would be complete without some drinks. Pils and aquavit (schnapps) are the national drinks of Norway and after extensive testing we can confirm that they’re both great Eurovision drinks. Ensure you have plenty of soft drinks for the drivers and those who get a little too enthusiastic too early and you’ll be sure to have a great evening.

Have a great party! Ha Det Fest!

*obviously ensuring its allowed under copyright law

Related posts:

1. Eurovision National Selection Events
2. What have we got to look forward to in the 2009 sporting calendar?
3. Barcelona Won’t Slip Up Now

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