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Europa League tips, 19th April 2012

April 19, 2012

Atletico Madrid v Valencia, 20:05 You’d think, seeing as Valencia are third in the Spanish table, that they’d be a strong favourite for this, but when you realise they are a massive 29 points back on second placed Barcelona it becomes more clear that third in the BBVA isn’t all that. Atletico have a fair [...]

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Europa League tips, 15th March 2012

March 15, 2012

Athletic Bilbao v Manchester United, 18:00 (agg. 3-2) Winning in Spain is not beyond Manchester United, especially when you consider just how far back on Real and Barcelona their hosts tonight are. However, when you consider the degree of control and skill the Spaniards showed in the first leg of this tie, virtually playing Sir [...]

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Europa League tips, 8th March 2012

March 8, 2012

Manchester United v Athletic Bilbao, 20:05 After overcoming a pretty decent Ajax side with something to spare United could have wished for an easier draw, but the reality is that at this stage there are no real minnows left in the competition. As much as I despise the practise of dropping big teams into the [...]

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Europa League tips, 23rd February 2012

February 23, 2012

Manchester United v Ajax, 20:05 (agg. 2-0) After a very good performance in Amsterdam Sir Alex Ferguson will no doubt be judiciously parcelling out his resources for this game, unwilling to use more than is required given the paucity of options he has in comparison to his neighbours, recently enriched with Carlos Tevez. It represents [...]

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Europa League tips, 22nd February 2012

February 22, 2012

Manchester City v Porto, 17:00 (2-1 agg.) To begin with, a blunt fact. Porto have never beaten an English side away in European competition, and if that statistic remains at full-time in this game City will go through. It is worth mentioning that City have sent a dossier to UEFA regarding the racial abuse of [...]

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Europa League tips, 16th February 2012

February 16, 2012

Ajax v Manchester United, 18:00 To be honest the Premier League sides have drawn a rather poisoned chalice from the Europa League fire, to horribly mix some metaphors. Whilst United only have a short journey to a top club, they may have hoped for a rather less challenging opponent and atmosphere, and the test on [...]

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Europa League tips, 15th December 2011

December 15, 2011

Shamrock Rovers v Tottenham, GpA, 18:00 There are some games that you feel you’d rather not choose a winner for, or rather pick the result, and this is one of them. If Tottenham had put out their first eleven for just four games in this group they’d have qualified quite easily, and even with the [...]

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Europa League tips, 14 December 2011

December 14, 2011

Besiktas v Stoke, GpE, 18:00 Tony Pulis will be feeling unusually pleased with the work both he and his players have done up until this point on the flight over to Turkey, as he knows that whatever happens Stoke will be in the next round of the Europa League. The home side only need to [...]

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Europa League tips, 1st December 2011

December 1, 2011

Stoke v Dynamo Kiev, GpE, 20:05 Tony Pulis has a chance to wrap up qualification in front of the home fans tonight, and with the opposition a genuine giant of the European game, and this being the first season the Potters have spent in the Europa League in modern guise that would be a massively [...]

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Europa League tips, 30th November 2011

November 30, 2011

Braga v Birmingham, GpH, 18:00 We’ll hear about managers complaining forever, it seems, and the Europa League always precipitates a rash of league whingers stating the ‘the fixture list has done for us’, or something similar. Tony Pulis mentioned it last week, as if he is the first man ever to fly to Kiev, so [...]

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