Europa League / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 06 November 2008 / Leave a comment

3-2 scoreline at Eastlands matched at 44, Villa secure priceless win in Prague and AC Milan touch 16.5 before being bailed out by Ronaldinho.

Manchester City continue to be one of the great entertainers when they're at Eastlands and those who predicted another feast of goals in a 3-2 scoreline will have secured a top price of 44 as Mark Hughes' troops picked up three valuable points against Steve McClaren's Twente.

The home side briefly touched 2.08 with the scores level at 1-1 midway through the second-half but a goal from the magical Robinho and a deflected Benjani effort were enough to win the match in the end. The team who hosted last year's edition of the UEFA Cup final currently trade at odds of 19 to win it this time round.

A team they could possibly meet in the latter stages of the competition, Aston Villa, secured a 1-0 win against Slavia Prague that will have done wonders for their confidence and chances of getting out of their group after being matched at 3.5 to get an away win. At odds of 19 to go on and win the whole thing, the Betfair market assesses them as having an almost identical chance of going all the way as the aforementioned Man City.

Back in North London, the Redknapp revival continues and Spurs made easy work of Dinamo Zagreb with their odds of a win never rising above 1.57.

Short-priced backers relying on an AC Milan win however will have had a far more stressful evening after the Rossoneri drifted from a starting price of around 1.18 to 16.5 before Ronaldinho secured a very late winner to grab the three points against Portuguese outfit Braga.

Another Portuguese side getting nothing from their evening's work was Benfica who lost at home to Galatasaray, who touched 6.6 before opening the scoring in the second-half. Everton's conquerors and Liverpool's near-conquerors Standard Liege continue to show what a good side they are after beating Juande Ramos' old team Sevilla. They were matched at a high of 3.95 for the win.

Despite the setback Sevilla are seen as one of the favourites to win the UEFA Cup this year and trade at 11, the same price as fellow Spaniards Valencia. Ronaldinho's AC Milan are the favourites at 5.4 to win a competition that in all truth, they wish they weren't competing in in the first place.