Tag Archives: uphill

Forest face uphill task

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Nottingham Forest will be desperate to put recent play-off disasters to one side when they tackle Swansea City in the first leg of their Championship semi-final at The City Ground (Forest 13/10, draw 23/10, Swansea 21/10 in the match betting).

Four years ago, when Forest were languishing in League One, they seemed certain to be heading to Wembley when they won at Yeovil Town 2-0 in the first leg, only to suffer a stunning 5-2 home reverse to the Glovers in the return clash.

After that amazing aggregate defeat, Forest did at least bounce back by winning automatic promotion 12 months later, but they were to endure another disastrous play-off experience at the end of the 2009-10 campaign.

Billy Davies’ side were everyone’s favourites to see off rank outsiders Blackpool even after they had been beaten 2-1 at Bloomfield Road in the first leg.

However, despite being unbeatable at The City Ground in the second half of the regular season, including a run of 12 successive victories, they contrived to lose 4-3 to Ian Holloway’s inspired side, who went on to beat Cardiff City at Wembley to confirm their place in the Premier League.

Despite a few wobbles along the way, Forest finished the 2010-11 campaign strongly to see off the challenge of Leeds United and Millwall and clinch sixth spot.

However, they will find it difficult to see off a Swansea City side that have a notoriously mean defence and are 13/5 with totesport to keep a clean sheet on Thursday.

Last term, under Paulo Sousa’s astute stewardship, they only just missed out on a top-six spot after conceding a paltry 37 goals in their 46 matches.

Despite Sousa’s summer defection to Leicester City, the Swans have prospered this term under ex-Watford and Reading manager Brendan Rodgers.

Once again their defence has been solid – Rodgers’ side conceded only 42 goals as they finished third – but they have added some goalscoring flair to their defensive organisation, finding the net 69 times in comparison to last season’s tally of 40 goals.

Former Chelsea starlet Scott Sinclair (13/2 to open the scoring at The City Ground) has been in blistering form, scoring 19 times in the Championship this term.

He has received good support from Darren Pratley and Stephen Dobbie who have both netted nine times.

There has been little to choose between the two sides this term, with Forest beating Rodgers’ team 3-1 at The City Ground in September, before the Swans gained revenge at the Liberty Stadium in March when they won by the odd goal in five.

Despite the prize on offer being so vast, a high-scoring game could once again be on the cards, with 12/1 available on a 2-2 draw.

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City face uphill Europa battle

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Manchester City, Liverpool and Rangers are all in Europa League action on Thursday night – with all three in danger of heading out of the competition in the last 16 (Europa League outright – Liverpool 6/1).

City are in the most precarious position of the British trio.  Roberto Mancini’s expensively-assembled side were humbled as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat in the Ukraine against Dynamo Kiev and it will take a big effort from the Eastlands side if they are to reach the quarter-finals.

City simply can’t afford to concede against Dynamo on Thursday night as they could not grab a crucial away goal at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium last week.

However, Mancini has his side well drilled and they have kept clean sheets in their last three consecutive home games – City are evens to keep a clean sheet and 6/5 to win to nil, both of which look good value considering their recent home form.

City need to win at least 3-0 if they are to progress, it will be a big ask for Mancini’s men and they are priced at 18/1 to secure a 3-0 victory over the Ukrainian outfit.

The Manchester side will also be boosted by the return of midfield playmaker James Milner from a hamstring injury, but Adam Johnson is unlikely to feature as he is still struggling with an ankle injury.

Liverpool were beaten 1-0 in Portugal by Braga but the Anfield outfit should be too strong for the Portuguese side on home soil.

Braga have a decent record at home and managed to see off Arsenal at the Estádio AXA but they do not fair so well on their travels, domestically and in Europe.

In the Portuguese Liga Sagres they have managed just two wins, losing six and drawing three and in Europe they have been beaten at Arsenal (6-0), Shaktar Donetsk and Lech Poznan.

Liverpool may have been left frustrated in Portugal but they should prove far too strong for a Braga side who do not travel well.  In the Half-Time/Full-Time market a Liverpool/Liverpool result is priced at 11/10 and the Reds should be full of confidence after seeing off Manchester United 3-1 last time out.

Rangers managed to secure a 0-0 draw with PSV Eindhoven in Holland and are in the driving seat with home advantage for Thursday night’s showdown.

PSV drew with strugglers NEC in their last league fixture, while Rangers secured a narrow win over Kilmarnock in the SPL and both sides struggled on their return to domestic action but will be keen to book a spot in the last eight.

Rangers have a few injury problems to key players and PSV, the Dutch league leaders, have a formidable record on their travels in the Eredivisie and have lost just once.

A draw, with goals, would be good enough for PSV and Rangers will need to be on the top of their game to see off the Dutch giants.

This is a tricky one to call and there is little to chose between the two sides but PSV are capable of grabbing a goal, as are Rangers, and this could end in a tie – which is priced at 23/10, for the braver punter a 1-1 final score (which would see Rangers eliminated) is priced at 11/2.

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