Uefa cup this thursday

Rangers V Werder Bremen

Important clash for both sides here tonight in what will be a very cagey affair in my view. Rangers have scored more goals away from Ibrox in Europe this season and go into this game having not scored in their last three European games at home, against Barcelona, Lyon and Panathinaikos.
Rangers are in goo form at the moment and are currently on an nineteen game unbeaten run in all competitions since their Champions League defeat at Ibrox to Lyon in January.
Rangers results on the road have been a bit more impressive which leads me to believe that keeping a clean sheet tonight will be a priority for them. Away goals are crucial and if they can achieve a 0 - 0 tonight then they will quietly fancy their chances in the next leg.
Werder Bremen are currently the main challengers to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and the favourites to progress to the next round. In Diego they have one of the best playmakers around and Rangers will need to keep a close eye on him. They seem to keep their best performances for their home games and have struggled to score on the road at times with just two goals away from home in the group stages of the Champions League and a slender 1-0 victory over Braga in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup.

Verdict
I cant see too many goals in this one. rangers will be happy to prevent Werder from scoring the crucial away goal and so should defend accordingly. Werder on the other hand will seek out that away goal but will still not want to concede either as this may leave a mountain to climb for the return leg. Over the two legs i think Bremen will do enough to progress but tonight i think 0 - 0 scoreline is a good looking selection as is under 2.5 goals


PICK
Rangers/Bremen under 2.5 goals (1.86 @ canbet) 5 points
Rangers/Bremen 0 - 0 correct score (10 @ sportingbet) 1 point



Bolton V Sporting Lisbon

Tough fixture for Bolton here. il cut to the chase, Bolton knocked Athletico Madrid out in the last round but i was not at all convinced by their efforts. Tonight El-Hadji Diouf is suspended and Nolan is a big doubt so its very hard to see them scoring at all. They have drawn two blanks in their last three at home so thats more evidence of their lack of firepower.
Sporting are not a bad outfit and could go far in this tournament. They are fighting for third place in the Portuguese League behind Porto and Benfica. If you compare the two sides its fair to say that Sporting have much more experience in the line of European football and this should stand to them. Im not going to go any further into this one. Not one of the Uefa Cup matches Bolton have played in this season have given us more than two goals. In fact they have never scored more than two goals in any of their 16 Uefa Cup games over two separate campaigns so unders looks safe. However the bookies have twigged onto this and unders is as low as 1.45 in places

Verdict
I cant see Bolton scoring and its going to take a big effort to keep Sporting out for 90 minutes. With away goals critical i think if Sporting can get 1 - 0 then they will hold onto that lead as it may be enough to see them through in the next leg. As i mentioned before unders is priced too low for my liking so 1 - 0 correct score to the away side may be a better investment.

Bolton/Sporting Lisbon- Lisbon 1 - 0 correct score (8.5 @ expect) 1 point