SOCCER FOOTBALL 24H

Bastia v Lyon  (15th v 9th) Sat, 19:00 GMT Live on BT Sport 1 Bastia sacked manager Ghislain Printant this week. The decision was little surprise given Bastia's lowly league position and likely relegation battle in the months ahead. The Corsicans' home form is a good W7-D0-L4.  Against strong visitors, however, their record is a poorer W1-D0-L3 , with PSG, Monaco and Nice all winners at Stade Furiani this season. The appointment of a new manager can lift a team. The chances of immediate improvement under new boss Francois Ciccolini are slim, however, given that defenders Francois Modesto and Florian Marange, midfielders Yohan Cahuzac and Seko Fofana and winger Floyd Ayite are all absent for Bastia this weekend. Lyon's recent performances have been better than results. They were unlucky to lose at St Etienne (1-0) a fortnight ago and played well in patches against Marseille (1-1) last weekend. You can sense a big win in the offing. Against limited hosts there's ...

MK Dons v Chelsea Sunday, 16:00 Live on BBC1 MK Dons Karl Robinson's men are just about keeping their heads above water in the second tier of English football, though Saturday's 3-1 loss at bottom-of-the-table Bolton will have  done little for confidence  ahead of Sunday's FA Cup clash against reigning Premier League champions Chelsea. The Dons sit just two points ahead of the Championship drop zone but they are definitely a much tougher nut to crack at  Stadium mk , and in recent weeks have won four of their last five games in front of their own fans including notable scalps over decent sides like Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff, and Reading. However, their only home loss in that time was a shuddering 0-5 defeat to Burnley. Robinson likes his team to play a patient passing game, often in a 4-2-3-1 formation with the option of switching to a more direct 4-4-2, though with just 23 league goals to their name this season MK Dons are the joint  second lowest sc...

Milan v Inter Sunday, 19:45 Live on BT Sport Europe Onto this week's fun and games, and the weekend will be rounded off by the Milan derby. Not one for the ages, but a game that's interesting as Milan can move to within five points of an Inter side whose title aspirations have vanished in a puff of smoke. They're still technically in the race, but a run of only  one win in five  has cost Inter, and emphasised the false position into which they had got themselves in the first place. These two will more than likely finish in the top six, and a positive end to the season could see either of them doing a little better than that, but this looks like being a tight game. It took a  Fredy Guarin  winner to separate the sides when they met earlier in the season, and I'm expecting a similar outcome here. Inter's last four Serie A games have gone Under 2.5 Goals, and the same can be said for three of Milan's last four. I'm tempted by Under 1.5 Goals here at  3...

Colchester United v Tottenham Hotspur  Saturday 12:45 Live on BT Sport 2 Tottenham Hotspur The first key question here for any bettor is to ask how Tottenham boss  Mauricio Pochettino will approach the FA Cup for a long term interest in the tournament? The Argentine will want to win his first trophy as manager at White Hart Lane undoubtedly , and at  9.60 , the north Londoners have a realistic chance of lifting it too. Will progress take priority over their  Europa League  campaign (for which they finished top of Group J)? Or will the total focus revolve around a possible tilt for the  Premier League  - which is a definite runner, and are available to back at 9.80 . However, these questions could be saved for later in the season perhaps, as after all, Pochettino could have the luxury of of resting several players this weekend, and they still should be too strong for a Colchester side that are bottom of League One. There are many aspects of Tot...

Liverpool v West Ham Live on BT Sport 1 Saturday 30th January, 17:30 Liverpool Previewing a Liverpool game is one of the toughest tasks for a sports betting writer at the moment. I just don't know what to make of them. The sheer drama of last weekend's incredible  5-4 win at Carrow Road  somewhat overshadowed the fact that the Reds were, for the majority of the game, pretty damn poor. Defensively they were once again at sixes and sevens, and even after scoring five goals you couldn't say that they were particularly creative or incisive going forwards. Then again in midweek they were, arguably, outplayed in a  1-0 defeat to Stoke , before a penalty shootout triumph stole all the headlines and deflected attention away from the performance. I feel you now have to go back a whole two months to the 6-1 demolition of Southampton for the last time that the Reds played well as a team. On the plus side,  Roberto Firmino  now has four goals in his last four sta...