Champions League

Celtic vs Manchester United



Celtic Park, Wednesday 5th November - 19:45pm GMT

Manchester United face a difficult trip to Celtic tonight, and I fancy them to come away with all three points. Although Celtic have won their last seven in a row in the SPL, the 3-0 reverse at Old Trafford two weeks ago was a telling reminder about the gulf in class between the two sides.

However, although Sir Alex Ferguson's side have picked up form after an indifferent start to the season, giving away the lead to draw at Everton and narrowly winning 4-3 against Hull in the past two weeks means that punters piling into the 1.6 available for the Man Utd win should be just a tad cautious.

Instead, we'll opt for a foray into the HT/FT market, where the draw/Man Utd double result represents excellent value at 5.2 with Betfair. Celtic are likely to keep plenty of men behind the ball for the first half at the very least, and then look to push on for a result towards the end of the match. This may leave them vulnerable to United's vaunted counter-attacks, to which Celtic will surely have no answer.

Pick: HT/FT draw/Man Utd - 2pts @ 5.2 (Betfair)

Arsenal vs Fenerbahce



Emirates Stadium, Wednesday 5th November - 19:45pm GMT

Elsewhere, Arsenal take on Fenerbahce at the Emirates Stadium after an emphatic 5-2 win in Turkey a fortnight ago. However, all is not well in the Gunners camp.  Defeats in the Premier League this season to Fulham, Hull and Stoke City have seen doubts arise about Arsene Wenger's position at the club for the first time in years. A freak 4-4 draw against arch rivals Tottenham means that Arsenal have conceded eight goals in their last four games, with just three clean sheets in their last ten games.

Generally speaking, Arsenal are reliable beasts at home, but we certainly can't take quotes of 1.25 for the straight win seriously. Although Fenerbahce's away record in the Champions League is appalling, it is certainly a good time to be playing Arsenal, a team whose confidence seems to become increasingly shaky with every game.

It is tempting to back Fenerbahce on the +1.5 Asian Handicap at around the 1.9 mark, but instead we'll look to the AGS market. With Arsenal's fragile defence, Spanish
striker Daniel Guiza certainly looks a good bet to get on the score sheet. He will lead Fenerbahce's forward line once again, and having scored against Arsenal in the reverse fixture, he seems a cracking bet to repeat the feat again.

For the very same reasons, Blue Square's 'both teams to score' price of evens is our bet of the night - over 2.5 goals is a best price of 1.6, and so clearly plenty of goalmouth action is expected. With both teams looking particularly hapless in defence and attacking at every opportunity, evens is simply a fantastic price.

Pick: Daniel Guiza to score anytime vs Arsenal - 1.5pts @ 5.0 (Coral)
Both teams to score in Arsenal vs Fenerbahce - 4.5pts @ 2 (Bluesq )

Nishant Joshi