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04/11/2008 - Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Just a few months ago it looked like Arsenal was a good bet to win multiple trophies, however the Gunners are faced with a must-win situation at Old Trafford on Sunday against Manchester United if they want to have any shot at silverware this season.
Arsenal was surprised by Tottenham in the semifinals of the Carling Cup, they exited the FA Cup after being hammered by United, and they are also out of the Champions League after a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Liverpool in the quarterfinals.
The club has also slipped to third in the league table, and trails United by six points with five matches to play. With that in mind, Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor admitted that the whole season is now down to winning Sunday's match.
"Our season now depends on Sunday, when we will know whether we are going to be on holiday or not," Adebayor told reporters. "That is the day we have to prove we can still win the Premier League otherwise United will have a hold on the title that will be very difficult to break."
While the task of winning at Old Trafford is a daunting one, especially since the Gunners will be without midfielder Mathieu Flamini and defender Bacary Sagna because of injury, Adebayor feels as though his side still has enough to get the job done.
"I believe it's still possible for us to win the league but we have to lift ourselves, keep our focus and keep our mentality strong," Adebayor said. "I think we will show that at Old Trafford, and stay in the battle for the title."
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson knows that his side will be in for a tough battle, but he feels as though the team's games with Arsenal and Chelsea will be occasions that his players will get up for, and that the team is well prepared to deal with both clubs.
"The games against Arsenal and Chelsea are the two big ones," Ferguson told reporters. "They are fantastic occasions which all the players look forward to. It's best if you go into the games in decent form and I think our form is decent. It will be a great game on Sunday. As we know Arsenal have been our main competitor for 13 years or whatever and it's not going to change on Sunday. It will be a hard-fought match and hopefully we will take the spoils."
The Red Devils will miss defender Nemanja Vidic because of injury, but they did get good news on Wednesday when both Mikael Silvestre and Gary Neville returned from long-term injuries.
Ferguson also rested Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney for Wednesday's Champions League match as United brought a two-goal cushion home for the return leg, giving all three players a little extra boost for Sunday's match.
Second-place Chelsea does not take the field until Monday, when the club hosts Wigan. The Blues trail United by three points and will still have a crack at the defending champions in a few weeks when United visits Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool will try to build on its dramatic Champions League victory when the club hosts Blackburn in Sunday's other contest. Liverpool trails Arsenal by eight points, but would be content to hold on to fourth place. The Reds own a three-point lead over Everton, which visits Birmingham on Saturday.
The relegation battle is becoming increasingly desperate for the bottom-three teams.
Last-place Derby has already been assured of relegation and they will host Aston Villa, while Fulham, which is six points from safety, visits Reading. Bolton has a good chance to inch closer to survival when they host West Ham. Wanderers are four points from safety, and with games against Sunderland and Middlesbrough still on the schedule, Bolton is not done yet.
Saturday's other games include Manchester City visiting Sunderland, Tottenham hosting Middlesbrough, and Newcastle going for its fourth consecutive win in league play against Portsmouth.
<< Florida F Mitchell will transfer
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida forward Jonathan Mitchell has
announced he will transfer at the end of the semester.
The 6-foot-7 sophomore has not decided where he is headed, but he will not
play for the Gators next
<< PSV set to clinch fourth straight title
Eindhoven, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PSV Eindhoven is on the verge of
capturing its fourth consecutive Eredivisie title, something they can
accomplish on Sunday with a win at home against Twente.
PSV owns a five-point lea
<< Colonel John rises to the top
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Move over Big Brown and Pyro. There's a
Colonel on the loose ready to do battle on the first Saturday in May. Colonel
John won the Santa Anita Derby by only a half-length, but the manner in which
he won was
<< Jays hit road on down note
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays were riding high after sweeping the
Boston Red Sox last weekend in the first series of the year at Rogers Centre.
However, a quick three-game visit from the Oakland Athletics has erased all
the good f
PSG is in full survival mode >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With six games to play in the current Ligue 1
campaign, PSG is in danger of being relegated for the first time.
The club is tied with three other teams on 35 points, with last-place Metz
taking one of the
Immelman's second 68 gives him Masters lead >>
Augusta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Immelman posted his second consecutive,
four-under 68 on Friday to grab the second-round lead of the Masters at
Augusta National.
Immelman, a first-round co-leader with Justin Rose, finished 36 holes at
North Dakota State names DeHoff women's hoops coach >>
Fargo, ND (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Dakota State has named Carolyn DeHoff its
new women's basketball coach.
DeHoff spent the past five seasons as an assistant at Utah. The Utes won three
Mountain West regular-season titles and one MWC To
Spurs sign Johnson >>
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs signed guard/forward
DerMarr Johnson on Friday. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not
disclosed.
The 27-year-old Johnson has spent most of the 2007-08 season wit
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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