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05/07/2010 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea is just one win away from claiming its third Premiership title in six years, and with a home contest against bottom-half side Wigan on Sunday, the Blues will be firm favorites to get the win.
Chelsea is coming off of a 2-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield last time out, and manager Carlo Ancelotti is hoping that his players will approach this Sunday's match in the same way they prepared for the Reds.
"I saw my players focused during the week and they knew very well how important the game was," Ancelotti said of the Liverpool game. "This weekend is the same, to be champions we have to play as we played against Liverpool.
"We have to maintain the same confidence in our play, the same determination because nothing is decided. We have to pay a lot of attention because there are not other games, if you miss this game you do not have the possibility of recovery.
"We are in a very good situation, we wanted to arrive at the end of the season with more points but we can decide our destiny in our home at Stamford Bridge so this is a good thing."
Wigan may have just secured safety, but they have vowed to make things difficult for Chelsea, and they will be hoping for a repeat of their 3-1 win over the Blues at the DW Stadium in September.
In addition to their win over Ancelotti's men, the Latics have beaten Arsenal and Liverpool as well, and defender Mario Melchiot feels that his team is in a good position to pull off another upset.
"You look at the teams we've beaten like Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, and take all the stuff we've done. I think it's looking really good for us," said Melchiot, a former Chelsea defender.
"The Premier League has been very exciting this season. Everybody can beat each other and that's a situation that's developing all the time."
Manchester United enters the final day one point back of Chelsea, and they will be hoping that Wigan can take at least a draw away from Stamford Bridge, which would allow United to claim a fourth successive title with a win over Stoke City.
Arsenal can lock up third place with a win at home against Fulham, while Tottenham visits Burnley having already secured the fourth and final Champions League spot, allowing Spurs to make their first ever appearance in the competition.
Manchester City has to settle for a place in the Europa League after their 1-0 defeat to Tottenham in midweek, and the Citizens will finish up their season at West Ham, while sixth-placed Aston Villa hosts Blackburn.
Liverpool's disappointing campaign comes to an end at relegated Hull City, Bolton hosts Birmingham, Portsmouth visits Everton and Sunderland travels to Wolverhampton.
<< Morneau healthy and carrying Twins
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American League pitchers and a nagging back
haven't been able to slow down Justin Morneau, and Joe Mauer's heel injury
likely won't either.
The first baseman's production didn't suffer last season while Mau
<< Motherwell eyes Europa League spot
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Motherwell needs a win over Rangers on
Sunday to clinch fourth place in the Scottish Premier League and secure a spot
in the Europa League for next season.
But if they are successful, they can point
<< Lipscomb F Hodzic withdraws from NBA Draft
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lipscomb University forward Adnan Hodzic has
withdrawn from the 2010 NBA Draft and will return to the school for his senior
season.
Hodzic had entered the draft on April 8, but did not hire an agent.
"By
<< Lyon desperate to get back to Champions League
Valenciennes, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After reaching the semifinals of the
Champions League for the first time in club history, Lyon is eager to return
to Europe's premier club competition, but they must first get back into the
top thr
NL West: Andre's been a giant for Dodgers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the Chicago Bulls needed a shot in the clutch the
entire universe knew who was getting the ball.
Baseball is a bit different and fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers have been
getting their own Michael Jordan-l
Barry's World Cup campaign in doubt >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry
is a major doubt for England's World Cup squad after being ruled out for four
weeks with ankle ligament damage.
City boss Roberto Mancini has revealed the in
Mancini: Tevez will stay at City >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini
has revealed that leading striker Carlos Tevez is more than happy to stay at
the club, despite failing to land Champions League football next term.
The Argenti
Ancelotti expects Cole stay >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti believes
Joe Cole will remain at the Stamford Bridge outfit next season despite being
out of contract in the summer.
Talks over new terms have been placed on hold unt
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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