Snowed Under

Of the sixteen teams left in the Champions League, no less than 14 come from the five leagues I follow. No surprise that the majority come from these five, but I am slightly surprised that other 'strong' leagues such as those in Portugal, Russia, Netherlands and Turkey are not represented. Not surprisingly, things are spread a little more evenly in the Europa League with 22 of 32 from the 'lesser' leagues. It's all good though. I adjust the ratings when teams from the five leagues play each other, which adds a little interest and while I don't have a lot of reason to be confident in their 'predictions' yet, (the initial values were based on UEFA's Coefficient for the leagues), they are actually proving to be quite accurate, and more importantly, profitable.

Forunately the weather didn't affect the Sunderland v Bolton Wanderers match, which finished with the 'expected' one goal home win. The supremacy was actually -0.92 and 2.28 was a great price. Football Elite also had Sunderland as a Recommended Bet. We also had Deportivo La Coruna in common, as a Short List selection for FE, but this finished 1-1. FE also has Short List picks of Espanyol and Levante although my numbers didn't agree and I left them alone, dodging two losers. I find myself making my own selections these days, and then adding to them if Football Elite concur. If FE have selections that I don't have, then typically I'm taking a small interest on the Recommended Bets and just watching the Short List picks from the sideline. We disagreed on the just ended Real Sociedad v Valencia game. I had this as a weak draw, while FE went for Real Sociedad as a Recommended Bet. Matt's Recommended Bets are on a hot streak right now, but I left my draw bet alone. In the end we both lost, with Valencia scoring a 90' goal!

Pete Nordsted's Drawmaster picks this weekend were all lost to the weather. He had Wigan Athletic v Aston Villa (a 'weak' draw for me) as well as Birmingham City v Newcastle United and Chelsea v Manchester United.

Bundes'lay'ga selection Werder Bremen was a winning lay at 1.66, but in-form Schalke '04 had no trouble beating Koln 3-0.

More action tomorrow, though not in England, where all scheduled games are postponed.

Anyone know where the photo above was taken? The caption reads "1938: A football match in progress in the snow" which is what could be described as 'stating the bleedin' obvious'.