European Football Preview - 1 October 2011

Wolves’ promising start to the season quickly evaporated quickly and they now find themselves without a win in four league games. newcastle on the other hand are yet to lose in 6 league outings. The form guide suggests a win for the visitors but we’re not so sure. The Magpies are unlikely to stay near the top for long and their away form has long been shaky. Wolves will also be determined to stop the rot on home soil and for those reasons we think the home side will sneak it.

Over in Spain we’ll back Valencia and Malaga to come up trumps against Granada and Getafe. On a normal day we’d expect Valencia to win comfortably against Grenada but midweek trips in the Champions League come at a price and we don’t expect this to be a walk in the park. Malaga meanwhile have a good home record while Getafe haven’t won away from home in this calendar year. We’ll therefore have a mid-stakes double.

Sticking with Spain, Real Madrid look capable of challenging on all fronts this season but will need to keep ion close contact with Barcelona if they are to have a shot at the Liga title - and that means no more dropped points in games they should win. we’ll pair Real with another side that look capable of challenging in every competition they’re in and that’s Bayern Munich. Again both sides competed in the Champions League in midweek so we’ll keep the stakes modest.

Looking down the other Bundesliga fixtures and Koln look reasonable value when they come up against Hertha BSC. Hertha’s home record is distinctly average while Koln have shown themselves capable of picking up wins on the road. this is finely balanced but at 3/1 it’s Koln that look the value.

Our final tip is a cheeky treble-play featuring Spurs, Udinese and Roma. Tottenham have arguably the toughest assignment at home to rivals Arsenal. This will be keenly fought and we expect the Gunners to put up a serious fight - but it’s Spurs that have the quality and experience right now and it’s them we’d back to take the spoils. Udinese meanwhile have started the season well and will hope to keep that up against an average Bologna side, while Roma, despite their poor start to the season, should be capable of beating recently promoted Atlanta on home soil. Given the additional risks involved with trebles, we’ll keep the stakes small though.