Oddscheker: Who are the favourites to claim this season’s Champions League?

With VAR and the Premier League s officiating stealing plenty of headlines over the weekend, some could be forgiven for forgetting that Europe s elite tournament gets underway on Tuesday evening.

Watching Spanish giants Real Madrid stun Liverpool back in May as Los Blancos made more Champions League history, we look set for another thrilling competition this year.

On a list that includes two of the Premier League s biggest heavyweights, we have taken a look at who the bookmakers have installed as their early leading contenders.

Manchester City 5/2 with

Eventually crumbling in the Spanish capital as they fell to a remarkable 6-5 aggregate defeat against Real Madrid in the semi-finals last season, Manchester City are desperate to finally lift their first Europea…

Klopp revels in Liverpool´s ´best game for a long time´ after Leeds thrashing

Jurgen Klopp hailed Liverpool s best game for a long time after the Reds thrashed Leeds United 6-1 in Monday s Premier League clash.

Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota both scored braces, either side of Cody Gakpo s opener and Darwin Nunez s late strike at Elland Road.

Victory ended a five-game winless run for Liverpool in all competitions as Klopp s men moved within six points of Europa League qualification, still with a game in hand over fifth-placed Tottenham.

The Liverpool manager pinpointed his side s intensity as a key factor in arresting their previously poor form.

I think it s the best game we ve played this season from all different perspectives and aspects of the game, Klopp told Sky Sports.

I think we forced a lot of errors, but it was a r…

Del Bosque hits back at Mourinho

Vicente del Bosque has dismissed Jose Mourinho s suggestions that the vote for FIFA s Coach of the Year award was rigged as childish .

The Real Madrid coach claimed earlier this week that certain people s votes in the elections were wrongly awarded to Del Bosque, a revelation that has since been denied by Fifa, but was backed by Macedonia skipper Goran Pandev on Thursday.

The situation does not bother me at all. To me, it is all a bit childish, Del Bosque said to ONDA Cero.

I don t want to give any further comments on it to avoid any misinterpretation.

We have an important match against Finland coming up and that s all I m thinking about at the moment.

Del Bosque was beaten to the individual award by Mourinho in 2010, but got his revenge in J…

Premier League predictions – Liverpool’s title hopes coming to an end?

Arsenal v Blackburn

Arsenal scraped through to the Champions League quarter-finals by the skin of their teeth on Wednesday night, but the fact that they came through in the end will be a massive boost to their morale and confidence. Add to that a fourteen game unbeaten run in the league and you see that Blackburn face a daunting task.

Blackburn earned a crucial 2-1 win at Fulham in mid-week to drag them out of the bottom three. They will try to make life as difficult as possible for The Gunners but it is hard to see past a home win.

SoccerNews prediction: 2-0

Bolton v Fulham

Eleventh plays tenth in what in any other season would be a meaningless mid-table scrap. This year, however, despite their league positions the two teams find themselves just five and six p…

Higuain earns Argentina recall

Gonzalo Higuain has earned a recall to Argentina s squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Paraguay.

The Juventus striker missed out on Edgardo Bauza s first squad as Argentina coach, but three goals in as many appearances for Massimiliano Allegri s side has seen the 28-year-old return to the fold for the matches on October 7 and 12.

Higuain is joined in the squad by Barcelona star Lionel Messi, who returned from his short-lived international retirement for the games against Uruguay and Venezuela only to withdraw from the squad through injury.

There is also a return for Sergio Aguero, who missed out last time due to a knock picked up in Manchester City s Premier League victory over West Ham.

Argentina, World Cup finalists in 2014, c…

Is the clock ticking on Brendan Rodgers time at Liverpool?

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is under immense pressure after his team s poor recent performances

Liverpool suffered a 3-1 defeat North West bitter-rivals Manchester United on Saturday and for a second consecutive game looked poor.

The Reds boss Brendan Rodgers is under immense pressure to deliver success this season, after the team from Merseyside finished sixth in the table last season.

Behind

The Reds finished a massive 25 points behind Premier League champions Chelsea last season, after finishing as runners-up in the previous campaign.

The 2013/14 campaign was characterised by some fantastic attacking football mostly involving forwards Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge.

Of course Rodgers did not have the services of Suarez to call-on …

Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals 7/5 for France vs Belgium in Tuesdays World Cup semi-final

Market: Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals

Odds: 

Two of Europe s heavyweights meet in Saint Petersburg as France and Belgium go head to head for a place in the World Cup final.

Starting with Didier Deschamps France side, although they may have started this summers World Cup finals slowly, the 2016 European finalists have improved with each round and after putting two past a Uruguay side who had only conceded one in their last eight, Les Bleus find their confidence at a high. While France have scored six in their last two and have kept three clean sheets in their last four, The Bleus did ship three against Argentina and backing both teams to score and over 2.5 goals seems like the most logical bet here. One man to watch for France is 19-year-old sensation K…

Chelsea set Willian price for Barcelona

According to Mundo Deportivo, Chelsea have set a huge asking price for as continue their pursuit of the Brazilian. The 29-year-old attacking midfielder has been one of the Blues stand-out players over the course of his five-year tenure with the club, and now, he s attracting the attention of arguably one of the biggest clubs in world football.

Alas, it s a deal that may not end up coming to fruition, with Chelsea deciding to place an €80 million price tag on his shoulders. The report suggests that Barca aren t willing to pay that kind of fee for a player approaching his 30th birthday, which could wind up being the key to Willian staying put for at least another season.

Chelsea, who are in the midst of a managerial dilemma that could go on for at least another few we…

Rusty Ivory Coast tackle angry Algeria

Rusty Ivory Coast face angry Algeria at Chiazi Stadium on Sunday with an Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals place at stake.

An Ivorian Elephants squad boasting stars like Didier Drogba and brothers Kolo and Yara Toure are fancied to defeat the star-less Algerian Desert Foxes in the second quarter-final of the biennial African football showpiece.

Tradition also tilts toward the west Africans, who have won four of five matches at this stage while Algeria have lost all three, ahead of a game that sees two of the five African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup square off.

Ivory Coast also shade previous clashes between the countries, winning two, losing one while the 1988 clash was drawn 1-1 in Morocco where Ivory Coast suffered the agony of being ousted by a draw of …

France lose Ribery to knee trouble

Franck Ribery has been ruled out of France s World Cup qualifying matches against Austria and the Faroe Islands due to tendinitis in his left knee, the country s coaching set-up announced on Monday.

The Bayern Munich winger was ruled out of both matches after being seen by a specialist. No replacement has yet been named.

Ribery played from the start for Bayern against Cologne in the Bundesliga on Saturday but failed to shine in a drab 0-0 draw.

It was his second consecutive league start for the Bavarian giants after an injury-disrupted start to the season but he felt pain in his knee following s the club s goalless draw at home to Juventus in the Champions League last Wednesday.

Having been strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid in the summer, Ribery…