Tottenham faces uphill battle against Arsenal

Soccer Betting Lines

09/14/2007 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham manager Martin Jol is on the hot seat as his club has won just one of its first five games, and things will not get any easier on Saturday when Spurs welcome London-rivals Arsenal to White Hart Lane.

Jol faces a lineup decision ahead of the match with captain Ledley King unavailable because he is still recovering from knee surgery. Young defender Younes Kaboul is likely to take his place, but the former Auxerre man will have a heavy challenge in front of him as he will have to cope with a strong Arsenal attack that features striker Robin Van Persie.

The Dutchman has done an admirable job filling the shoes of departed striker Thierry Henry, but he must continue his good form if the Gunners are to remain near the top of the standings.

Arsenal is coming off of a 3-1 win over Portsmouth last time out, and has shown the quality to stay in the title race over the course of the season.

Manager Arsene Wenger is facing a number of lineup choices, especially in goal. Starter Jens Lehmann allowed two terrible goals in the team's first two games, and has not played since because of an Achilles injury.

The German international has recovered from that problem and played for Germany this past week, but an elbow injury is now the reason that Manuel Almunia will remain in goal, sparing Wenger the difficult decision for another week.

"At the moment I have not really wondered," Wenger told the club's website. "I knew yesterday that Jens could not play so we go for continuity at the moment. We'll see what happens [when he comes back] but this is not the only difficult decision I have to make right now."

Almunia has been solid in Lehmann's absence, and it will be interesting to see if Wenger is willing to put the unsteady Lehmann back in the lineup if Almunia is playing well.

It remains to be seen how newly-signed Lassana Diarra will fit into this team, and with Mathieu Flamini playing well at right back, Wenger must decide if he wants to put Bacary Sagna back into that spot or keep going with the in-form Flamini.

Jol would like to have to make such decisions, but for now he will settle for a few positive results to get himself out of hot water.

Spurs carried lofty expectations into this season, but their terrible start has left Jol's future with the team in jeopardy.

If Tottenham drops Saturday's game to Arsenal, you can expect the clock to start ticking on Jol's time with the team. A turnaround is needed now, but it may have to wait a week with Arsenal coming to town.

In other action on Saturday, Manchester United will have Cristiano Ronaldo and possibly Wayne Rooney back in the lineup at Everton, league-leaders Liverpool visit bottom-half club Portsmouth, struggling sides Bolton and Birmingham tussle at St. Andrews Stadium and Reading takes on Sunderland. Middlesbrough travels to Upton Park to meet West Ham, Wigan entertains Fulham and Chelsea, coming off of a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa, hosts Blackburn.

Sunday's game features Aston Villa, coming off of that big win against Chelsea, taking on Manchester City, while Newcastle and Derby round out the weekend's action on Monday.

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Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship

(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

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MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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