I dunno what to make of this Fulham side. They play well, but more often than not they don’t get the result to match it.

I recall when they scored in the 1st minuet against Arsenal in the Emirates, and held on to it for 85 minutes, yet the walked away empty handed going down 1-2.

I certainly can’t trust their defence, which is the problem Sanchez must work on.

On the other hand, Everton played in Europe on Wednesday, so Fulham had 48 more hours to rest after their Monay night visit to Old Trafford.

Often enough, teams that play in Europe in the midweek fail to produce anything impressive on the weekend in their domestic league. That may not be a rule of the thumb, but it certainly a noteable phenomenon, and it’s not always related to fatigue as some big teams (ex: Liverpool) have enough players to change the complete starting XI, but they still do it.

Ok then, I’ll take my chances on the draw here. Many would think the 7-1 of Sunderland is good enough a reason to back Everton to win, but I expect Fulham to bounce back sooner or later, and they have not really been disgraced by the 0-2 defeat at Old Trafford, and if they should give another performance like that they ought to go back home with something from this game.

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Visit any stats site and check the away form for EPL this season, and you would be amazed to see Pompye as the top team to win on the road (5 wins) and also the most scoring team on the road (14 goals).

Villa accepte 3 defeats at home so far, but all were to big 4 sides (Arsenal, Man U & Liverpool), so I wouldn’t exactly consider Villa Park an easy place to visit, but if Pompeye can win in their last 5 away outings incluing those against the likes of Blackburn, Newcastle an even Villa’s arch-rivals Birmingham, then they certainly have a chance to do it in Villa Park as well.

However, I’ll be content with laying the home side. I see the draw as the most probable outcome for this game, especially with Villa unbeaten against Pompeye in their last 7 games (the last of which was a 0-0 draw here back in April).

Villa should be missing S. Petrov (injured), but welcome back Reo Cocker from suspension, while Pompeye are virtually traveling with a complete squad with neither injury nor suspension worries.

Looks like the punters are into betting on all home wins in France no matter what teams are playing. Otherwise I cannot explain why Gueugnon are set to be favourites on this one.

Standings: Reims are 9th with 6 points (2-0-2). Guegugnon are 19th with 3 poinst (1-0-3).

Reims got off to a disasterous start losing away to Nantes by 0-5. They bounced back at home with a 2-1 win over Libourne, but -again- fell in trap away to Grenoble (0-2). Last week they won 3-1 at home over Niort. This means they are yet to score on the road, but it´s not as bad as it looks at first glimpse.

Grenoble are the current leaders of the table. It´s only logical to lose to them. They have the strongest defence of all 20 teams after 4 games (conceded only 1) so it´s also logical not to score against them.

Nantes are 3rd on the table, and have the strongest frontline in this division.

But the 2 wins came over bottom teams Niort (2 notches above Gueugnon) and Libourne (bottom team, just behind Gueugnon).

Maybe the home advantage counted for Reims on their 2 wins, but still they proved they can beat teams in the bottom of the table.

Gueugnon´s only win came over Chateauroux (14th on the table) and they´ve lost against Amiens (15th) at home. They also lost to both Bastia & Sedan (8th & 6th respectively) eventhough these were on the road.

My point is, Gueugnon lost to top half teams and only won against a bottom half team, while Reims lost to 2 top 3 teams and won over teams near the bottom.

Still not convincing, but the H2H sure does the trick. Out of the last 8 meetings between them, Reims won twice and 6 ended in draws, including all 4 held on this pitch. The last 2 on here ended goalless.

Based on the stats (last 4 games produced 1 goal for Reims and non for Gueugnon) I think the unders looks like a perfect choice.

However, based on H2H stats the draw should be a perfect option, and judging by current season´s stats it looks like Reims are the ones that should be favourites.

Finally, these two are still draw-less in this season. Only 2 other teams (Libourne & Bastia) are also yet to draw. In France it´s not normal for teams not to get draws for a long time, and I think it´s about time these two got their 1st draw of the season.

All in all, I cannot accept Gueugnon as favourites on this game, and I do not see them winning.

Good Luck

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Here´s Brum´s transfers list:

Olivier Kapo (Juventus, £3m), Garry O’Connor (Lokomotiv Moscow, £2.7m), Fabrice Muamba (Arsenal, £2m), Franck Queudrue (Fulham, £2m), Liam Ridgewell (Aston Villa £2m), Stuart Parnaby (Middlesbrough, free), Daniel De Ridder (Celta Vigo, free), Richard Kingson (Hammarby, free), Rafael Schmitz (Lille, loan)

Go ahead, take another look... and tell me if you see anyone whom can really set the EPL on fire!

Chelsea may just need a draw here to set a new record for not losing at home, but they certainly need the whole 3 points in order to kick-off things well and not be left behind in the race for the title so early into the season.

Chelsea may appear to have a depleted squad, but this has been the case for most of last season as well. It may have slowed them down, but not to the limit that they can´t win at home, and certainly not against bottom teams.

Keeping in mind that Chelsea will have to play Liverpool early this season, there´s no other way for them but to win this opening fixture or their fans would really have every reason to worry about their status for the whole season. Winning means confidence, while other options are unspeakable for Mourinho.

1-0? 2-0?? I´m not sure. I just know Chelsea will win against newly promoted Brum who may need 2-3 games to synchronise and adapt to EPL football again, after spending a season in the Championship.

I was looking at the win-to-nil market, but I couldn't find it on OddsOddsOdds comparison, so I'm settling for the home win odds (not very tempting). The stakes are also a strategic choice, but it's a 90-95% confident pick.

Backing the away win is my choice, and it's my most confident "away win" of the game week.

Pompeye have been scoring for fun in their pre-season warm-ups. No matter how you look at it, Harry´s squad is superior to the Rams in all aspects.

The only thing Derby may rely on is the home support, but that won´t do the trick against solid sides such as the "likely" top 8 (including Pompeye).

Yes, some people indeed have gone for Pompeye to be bottom of the table after 10 games, for precisely this reason: they´re playing the top 4 in the their 1st 10 games. No other side on EPL will have to go through that.

But I think Pompeye will (1) be more careful with fixtures against lesser opposition, considering it´s likely to lose to the top 4, so they won´t be left too far behind in the race for Europe.
(2) Will try their best to achieve something against them big boys. If they do get a few -unaccounted for- points then they´d be very comfortable in the top half (probably even top 6) comes the Xmas congestion.

Derby barely made it up. They scrapped their way through the play-offs and many think they didn´t even deserve to get promoted. They were relying solely on Barnes, and he isn´t even playing in this game.

Pompeye, even if we disregard the pre-season superb form are generally solid in every inch. What with "calamity" James under the post (yes I know he can be a disaster, but on his day he´s a hero) , Campbell, Taylor & even new boy John Utaka (watch out for him).

I simply predict a walk in the park for Pompeye, but I also hate it when almost everybody agrees, so -only for this reason- I will be carefull and place 8 units rather than the ultimate confidence rate of 10, but still I'm fully backing an outright away win.

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Well, if it´s not Bent it´s Keane. If it´s not Keane it´s Bent. And if it´s neither then it´s Berbatov, and that´s the story of Spurs pre-season schedule.

7 wins (out of 7 games) is certainly impressive, but you´d have to consider they´ve been playing against the likes of Kaiser Cheifs and Orlando Pirates.

However, Spurs have been scoring goals for fun since last season, and they´ve even added more fire-power to their already hot frontline, which explains why myself and many others expect them to be the most scoring team in EPL this season.

The problem is still in their defence line. Almost a goal per game they´ve conceded in their friendlies, and the defence is very much depleted according to team news they don´t even have a natural left back/winger fit to play.

I´d say overs is a reasonably good bet here.. Spurs to concede -at least- one and to score -at least- twice seems reasonable enough.

However, this being an opening fixture of the season I´d have to be careful. Maybe Keane (Roy) can work out some magical formula to stop the hot Spurs from finding the back of the net, although it's unlikely IMHO.

Reagrding the match outcome I think no matter how many goals they concede, I can see Spurs scoring more.

But IF Mido joins Sunderland, I may change my mind (if he is fit enough to play in this fixture). He would want to send a message to Jol, and with his aerial abilities vs Robinson´s silly mistakes and King´s abscence he may get to send that message loud and clear.

But as it stands, Sunderland´s been finding it hard to score in their friendlies, while Spurs are not at all goal shy, so I´m backing Spurs until they prove me wrong.

Over 2.5 is a more confident pick though.

Now that it doesn't really matter who finishes atop and who comes as runner-up, since Brazil was redirected to the other half of the draw, it's all down to who plays Mexico (2nd) and who plays Peru (1st), and if they both should win then they meet eachother again! (What a draw!)

IMHO, Paraguay woukld still hang on to the top to play the easier team, (Peru) rather than Mexico, while the Argies should -theoritically- not fear anyone, so it won't matter to them except for pride.

As it is, Paraguay has a supewrior goal difference and a draw would be sufficient to keep them atop of the group, while it won't hurt Argentina's pride.

Paraguyay are well known of their extremely stiff defence, especially against the big boys of "Sud America", and I reccon they will play the same way they always do against Argentina/Brasil once more, which is 8 players behind the ball with any 2 players from Santa Cruz, Cabanas & Pizarro as "hunters" upfront, thuis the draw will be the logical outcome yet again.

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Now let me get this one straight: The question is whether Sudan can win Mauritius by TWO?? That's it?

Well, the answer is definately YES! If they can hold Cameroon to a draw in Khartoum, they can certainly beat the minor tams of the continent by 2 or 3.

Also, lets not forget Al-Hilal has qualified for the quarter finals (groups stage) of the CAF Champions League, while their arch-rivals, Al-Marriekh have reached the same stage in the CAF Confederations Championship (equivalent to UEFA Cup). This certainly says something about the Sudanese football level comapred to the rest of "domestic" football in the continent.

Faisal Ajab is one talented dribbler, and I'm sure he will cause havok in the Mauritius defence line, and with th confidence the squad has got form both winning the 1st leg in Mauritius (something Tunisia failed to do), and their clubs advancing on the African scene (90% of the team plays for either top 2 clubs) I'm sure they intend to fortify their position on the second spot (1 point behind Tunisia) and place themselves as favourites to clinch one of the 3 runner-ups tickets.

Well, I'm not sure about this handicap.

1st of all, Egypt are -generally- bad travellers. They are almost flawless at home (Cairo Int'l Stadium), but on the road they simply suck. (I refer you to the goalless draw in Botswana)

Furthermore, they're playing on tartan (carpet) this time, and the Egyptian never got used to it.

Now add to that the abscence of Mido (dropped for losing his starting position is Tottenham), Zidan (just had a surgery) and Met'eb (supended for receiving a red card in the corresponding game in Cairo), and you get a depleted frontline with only Amr Zaki as the main striker with Int'l experience.

Sure, Mohammad Fadl (Issmaili) & Gamal Hamza (Zamalek) have the talent, and even some experience due to playing with their clubs in the African clubs tournaments, but they -also- will hate playing on tartan.

Shikabala maybe the only hope for Egypt to cover the handicap. He's talented (never seen him on carpet though), speedy, and has a BRAIN (something that's become rare amongst footballers of late)

On the other side, I see a slight advantage for the hosts to play on this kind of surface, but considering their poor talent I don't expect them to make much of it on the offence.

However, they may as well rely on a less than average performance by the Egyptians and hope for a point, which will theoritically bring them level with Botswana.

This group is composed of 4 nations, so the runner up will have a chance to qualify if they become one of the best 3 runner-ups of all 4-nations groups.

I'm predicting a goalless score, or a "hard earned" win for the visitors by the odd goal

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Two words: Didier Drogba!

Well, you know the name and you know what he’s capable of on the highest of levels, so I guess you need no explanation of his ability to score and motivate his teammates against a poor Madagascar side.

But why should the likes of Drogba, Zokora, & Eboue even care to score much when they’re almost guaranteed to top the group with a mere win?

Well, “patriotism” could be the main factor here.

Not too long ago, Cote d’Ivoire was torn apart by a civil war. The rebels from the north too a city named Bouake as their base/capital.

Now that the country’s settled and peace is “almost” reigning allover, they decided for Bouake to host this game for the national team. (Wise move IMHO)

Kolo Toure’s supended, and Aruna Dindane’s injured, but aren’t Drogba, Kone, Kalou.. etc enough?

Madagascar are simply too “limited” to offer the Ivoirians any serious challenge. They are the bottom of the 3-nations group with no points. They also lack motivation and to add to it they’ve changed their coach twice in a matter of a few months.

Can’t see why Cote d’Ivoire could fail to cover the handicap.

I have to admit my confidence in Championship football has been seriously shaken by the outcome of last night’s return leg between Derby & Southampton.

Instead of seeing this one as an obvious home win I now look at WBA’s 5 winless homw games towards the end of the season, before thy managed a massive 7-0 win over Barnsley in the last day of regular season, and I wonder.. is it worth backing them at home?

Well, I think it is still, for Wolves had a 4 game winless streak on the road themselves before winning 4-1 at Leicester at the last day too, and generally speaking Wolves have only won 10 (out of 23) on the road this season.

WBA won 14 home games and 4 other games ended in draws which means they’ve only lost 5 home games in the Championship, and –surprisingly- 4 of them came in that woeful streak towards the end of the season.

However, most losses were somewhat predictable to an extent. I mean, they lost to Sunderland (whom had a great run in the 2nd half of the season and were eventually crowned title winners), Sheffield Wednesday are 4th best Championship side on the road. I guess it was WBA relaxing a bit after guaranteeing a play-offs spot and losing all hope on an automatic promotion spot.

The thing is WBA posses the strongest frontline in th Chamionship, with 81 goals scored in the regular 46 games, 51 of which scored in their 23 home games.

They may not be great in defence, having conceded 55, but at home they only conceded 24.

Wolves in comparison scored only 59 goals all season, 26 of which on the road, and conceded 56, half of which on the road.

The corresponding fixture in regular season ended 3-0 for the home side, so I still wouldn’t expect them Wolves to do what So’ton did yesterday (i.e win in the 90 minutes). After all, they’ve only won once in their last 11 visits here, and that was 10+ years ago (September 1996).

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