Champions League
2010-09-14 - Werder Bremen vs Tottenham
A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted
Football : UEFA Champions League : Group A
Tuesday, September 14th 2010 - Start 7:45PM GMT
WERDER BREMEN
Werder Bremen will 2 big advantages on Tuesday night when they face Englands newest entrants to the mother of all football cup competitions. They will be at home, in Germany, and will be playing a Tottenham outfit that has no experience of playing in this tournament before.
Werder Bremen finished 3rd in the Bundesliga last season, to give you an idea of their quality. They too had to go through qualifying, and faced an arguably tougher opponent than Spurs. Sampdoria, from Italy, provided the stern test, and Bremen scraped through 5-4 on aggregate over 2 legs, with the winner coming in extra time!
Rather than look down on them, I rate this team higher than Tottenham, as that was certainly no easy tie to make it into the actual competition. Bremen are a tough side that know how to fight. They'll do exactly that on Tuesday, against an opponent that has showed they are far from dependable in recent domestic games.
Bremen have great form when playing at home, losing just 3 times all last season. Their current overall form is decent too, as displayed when holding the mighty Bayern Munich to a 0-0 draw. They have a 4-2 win in domestic play over Koln too, and I can't see them being beaten here. Not by Spurs.
TOTTENHAM
So, they're finally at the big boys table, and boy did they have to fight to get here. An exciting final match between Manchester City and Tottenham was won by the north Londoners, and they play the first of their lucrative Champions League games against a side they should not take lightly. Indeed, Spurs were already showing worrying signs back in the qualifying tie, when they required a big 2nd leg performance to get past the unfancied Young Boys.
Tottenham also have current defending champions Inter Milan and dutch outfit FC Twente in this group with them, so it's not going to be easy at all. Spurs have wobbled a bit in the early games of the English season, collecting just 1 win from their opening 4 matches, and it fills me with very little confidence when seeing them struggle against the likes of Wigan and West Brom.
So, what's Harry going to do on Tuesday? He's got a lot of injuries to his team, with Michael Dawson and Defoe both out for a lengthy period following their England exploits. Luka Modric also picked up an injury on the weekend, so it will be left to the likes of Crouch to pull Tottenham through this one.
No chance - at least not one worth betting on.
BETTING VERDICT
The price here will be good, driven up by all the money pouring in to support an English side. Taking any bet that goes against the Germans will be fatal, as I can see them giving Spurs a very unpleasant welcome to life in the Champions League. Keep an eye on the likes of Torsten Frings, Claudio Pizarro and Marko Marin.
Home win, with a good chance of the quick Marin netting in the process.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Werder Bremen to pull out the win
BEST BETTING TIP :
Main Bet : Take Werder Bremen to win at 2.20 (Pinnacle)
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
or consider Werder Bremen +0 AH at 1.56 (Pinnacle)
