Mixed luck for English sides in the UEFA Cup

Europa League / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 23 October 2008 / Leave a Comment

Spurs' season is now beginning to fall apart on the European as well as domestic front after Udinese were matched at [2.5] on Betfair before beating Juande Ramos' side 2-0. Portsmouth fared no better but Aston Villa mean business in the UEFA Cup after beating Ajax at home....

The last thing you need when you're struggling for results is goalkeeper slip-ups but slip up was exactly what Brazilian goalkeeper Gomes did in the 23rd minute, allowing Quagliarella to steal possession in the box before being tugged down by the aforementioned Gomes.

The Spurs keeper was lucky not to have seen red but the resulting converted penalty was punishment enough for Spurs and the result was put beyond doubt in the 86th minute as Pepe made the most of Spurs' exposed defence, who were a man short after the sending-off of O'Hara. The 2-0 scoreline was matched at a high of [12.5] but those who predicted over 2.5 goals and took odds of [1.57] will have wished for a third that never came.

Spurs' current price of around 29 to win the UEFA Cup is a far cry from the odds of 10 that they were matched at earlier on in the season when optimism was the order of the day at White Hart Lane.

Portsmouth had no better luck at Portuguese strugglers Braga, who touched [2.98] before beating Redknapp's men 3-0. Portsmouth are currently trading at 40 to go on to win the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history.

Aston Villa on the other hand have taken their good domestic form into Europe and touched [1.99] en route to beating Ajax when the scores were level at 1-1 midway through the first-half. Gareth Barry's first-half injury-time goal to put Villa ahead going into the break meant a decent payout for those who took 15.5 on the Villains to be leading at half-time and 2-1 is how it stayed, a scoreline matched at 10 on the correct score market. Villa are now priced at 16 to win the competition.

There were also wins for tournament favourites AC Milan (5.5 to win the UEFA Cup), Sevilla (11.5) and Hamburg (23).