Previews

Bhoys bid to defy the odds

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 26/08/2009
Football betting

Arsenal welcome Celtic to the Emirates Stadium in part two of this season's Champions League Battle of Britain.

The Bhoys are in a precarious position going into the play-off round second leg clash and are looking down the barrel of an exit from the competition before the group stage.

Arsene Wenger's side lead 2-0 after last Tuesday's first leg encounter in Glasgow and are highly fancied among online betting odds to extend their aggregate lead in the second leg.

How will the Champions League play-off ties pan out? Latest Football Betting

However, Celtic can count themselves unlucky to be behind after producing a fair showing in the first leg.

But a huge deflection and an own goal were enough to leave Tony Mowbray's side facing the prospect of a less lucrative season in the Europa League.

Arsenal will hope to call on Theo Walcott, who has missed their season openers with a back injury. But it is likely that Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri and Johan Djourou will be missing while Cesc Fabregas has been ruled out with a hamstring strain.

Marc-Antoine Fortune netted his first Celtic goals in Saturday's 5-2 win over St Johnstone and Mowbray will be desperate for his strikers to remain on the goal trail. Fortune and Scott McDonald could be in line for starts after the latter also grabbed a brace at the weekend.

The Old Firm giants will hope to draw on their experiences of the third qualifying round, when they overturned a 1-0 first leg deficit against Dinamo Moscow by securing an impressive 2-0 victory in Russia.

It's a busy midweek programme of European football and, in the best of the rest, Fiorentina welcome Sporting Lisbon to Stadio Artemio Franchi.

A fine first leg in the Portuguese capital saw the sides deadlocked although the Serie A side have the advantage of away goals in the bag with after a 2-2 draw.

Despite Sporting dominating for long periods in the first 90 minutes, early and late goals will buoy the Viola.

Serial European strugglers Anderlecht welcome Lyon, who have been synonymous with the Champions League in recent seasons.

And bar any freak result, expect the Ligue One outfit to progress to the group stages as they take a 5-1 lead to Belgium.

Despite the loss of Karim Benzema to Real Madrid, Lyon are sure to provide any team with problems in the Champions League this season.

Atletico Madrid hold a slender lead over Panathinaikos as fearsome strike duo Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero got among the goals in 3-2 win in Greece.

The tie is far from over though as the Greek side will know all about the defensive frailties of the flamboyant La Liga outfit. It could be a classic at Vicente Calderon.

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