SOCCER FOOTBALL 24H

Bolton v Brentford Monday, 19:45 Live on Sky Sports 1 Bolton Poor Wanderers sit  rock-bottom  of the table with just one win from 17 games and Neil Lennon's hands seemingly tied in the transfer market until the club is sold to new owners and their debt (believed to anywhere between £100m and £200m) written off by benefactor Eddie Davies. Their home form is actually not quite as terrible as you might think with one win, six draws and just the single defeat from those eight fixtures at the  Macron Stadium . Where they have come up short is easy to see though -  11 goals  from those 17 matches is the lowest in the division and Lennon's attacking options consist of limited trier Gary Madine, veteran Emile Heskey and Shola Ameobi who is nearly as old as the former England man. With no money available  even for loan signings until new owners come in Lennon has to try and conjure what he can from his current squad. Brentford The Bees have managerial u...

Atletico Madrid v Espanyol Saturday 17:15  (Live on Sky Sports 2) Atletico   1.28 , Espanyol  15.50 , The Draw  6.20 In the last three seasons, these two have met six times and those matches have delivered just six goals in total. Atletico have won 3/3 at the  Vicente Calderon : 1-0, 1-0 and 2-0. Those results are a nice match with Atletico's form this season: they're W4-D1-L1 at home, beating everyone who wasn't Barcelona or Real Madrid, but have scored only eight times across those six outings. Espanyol have lost 3/3 on the road to teams now in the top half. Last season,  Sergio Gonzalez's  men lost 7/9 on the road to top-10 finishers. The issue for us is that the  Parakeets did at least score in 9/12 of those. And 10 of them went Over 2.5 Goals. With the visitors' good scoring record in mind, we're focusing on the Winning Margin, rather than the Correct Score - so that we have results like a 2-1 home win on side too. Recommended Bet ...

Vardy aiming to beat Ruud van Nistlerooy record Leicester looking to extend Premier League lead Ranieri confident about Vardy Van Gaal wary of “nasty” Vardy Record-chasing striker Jamie Vardy will look to score his 11th consecutive Premier League goal against Manchester United, currently held by former Red Devil Ruud van Nistelrooy. Coral offer Vardy at 9/2 to scorer first  and United boss Louis van Gaal is all too aware of the problems that Vardy can create, having netted last term against United. “He was already last season a very nasty player for us,”  said Van Gaal.  “He scored, won a penalty, and now he is scoring 10 games in a row. I only know Dennis Bergkamp as a player who did the same with Ajax. It’s not so easy to do that.” Ranieri backing his striker While there has been considerable pressure on Vardy to beat the record, his coach Claudio Ranieri has backed Vardy to deliver:  “I think it’s good Jamie has this – maybe all his team-mates w...

  Aston Villa  2.74  v Watford  3.00 ; The Draw  3.30 The picture couldn't really look more gloomy for Aston Villa and you have to say that  Remi Garde  will need to be a miracle worker to guide the club to survival. Bottom of the table with the longest winless run in the division, the fewest goals scored out of all 20 Premier League clubs, the worst goal difference, and just two points taken from the last 36 available to them. Wow! I can't find one reason why they should be  favourites  to beat Watford on Saturday afternoon. For me the Hornets are the best of the three promoted clubs and have a great chance of avoiding the drop. And those chances will be hugely enhanced if they come away from  Villa Park  with all three points, a result that will take them 14 points ahead of the Midlands club. Watford may be going into this game on the back of two defeats on the spin but those reversals were by single goal margins to Leices...

Qarabag v Tottenham Thursday November 26, 18:00 Live on BT Sport Europe Juggling multiple competitions is often a stiff test for a top-level manager, and it's a task that has come into sharp focus this week for Tottenham's  Mauricio Pochettino.  The Lilywhites' recent Premier League form has sparked murmurings about a  surprise title tilt , and as such, Sunday's London derby against the champions Chelsea surely takes priority over a long trip to Azerbaijan. The tricky thing is that Tottenham wanted to have qualified for the last 32 by now, but they haven't. They can afford to slip up on Thursday evening and still make it through, but a home game against Monaco is by no means a guaranteed three points. Spurs are expected to field teenage wunderkind  Dele Alli,  as he is suspended for the clash with Chelsea.  Clinton N'Jie  may get another chance to show he isn't just a headless maverick, while we may also get a rare sighting of the lesser-spotted...

Liverpool v Bordeaux Thursday November 26, 20:05 Live on BT Sport Europe When  Jurgen Klopp  took up the managerial reins at Anfield, he pleaded for patience, and was at pains to stress that the rebuilding job was a huge challenge. After the weekend's 4-1 demolition of Manchester City at the Etihad, the charismatic German has about as much chance of dampening down expectation as I have of winning next year's X Factor (my Elvis Presley impression could strip paint off walls). Not only have Klopp's new charges quickly taken on board the notion of counter-pressing, they have shown a willingness to put in the work the former Dortmund boss demands as a matter of course. More encouragingly, Liverpool are  starting to be more clinical  when they win the ball back high up the pitch, and that will be the real key to how quickly Klopp can turn things around. Liverpool have lost just one of their eight fixtures since the change of coach, and after conquering the Etihad a...