SOCCER FOOTBALL 24H

Defences on top at the Allianz Arena Bayern Munich v Wolfsburg Tuesday September 22, 19:00 Live on BT Sport 2 Bayern Munich find themselves in an unusual position five games into the Bundesliga season. Although they have won all five matches, the champions aren't top of the table. With Borussia Dortmund blazing a trail under new coach Thomas Tuchel, the pressure is on as Bayern look to secure an unprecedented fourth consecutive title. With one eye on this fixture, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola shuffled his pack at the weekend, and despite one or two scares his side ultimately cruised to a 3-0 win at newly-promoted Darmstadt. Arturo Vidal scored with a stunning strike, teenage French forward Kingsley Coman scored his first ever Bundesliga goal, and the underrated Sebastian Rode popped up with a goal and an assist. Joshua Kimmich , a 19-year-old midfielder, looked composed on his full debut, working the ball around smoothly and winning possession back with determinati...

Granada v Real Sociedad Tuesday, 21:00 (Live on Sky Sports 2) Granada 2.50 , Real Sociedad 3.30 , The Draw 3.25 Granada can take plenty of positives from their performance at the Bernabeu on Saturday and were unfortunate not to take more from the game. Youssef El-Arabi wrongly had a goal disallowed for offside, whilst his ability to beat defenders caused Real Madrid's backline numerous problems. The pressure is beginning to accumulate upon David Moyes , as Real Sociedad are without a win in their first four league matches. This has been made worse by the fact they have failed to net in three of those games, including contests against newly promoted Real Betis and Sporting Gijon. They may find the answer to their goalscoring woes in Imanol Agirretxe , as the striker scored in his only start of the season. La Real have a very talented squad and Moyes knows he might not get the opportunity to fulfil his tenure if they persist in the same manner. Reco...

Crystal Palace 1.63 v Charlton 6.20 ; The Draw 4.20 Wednesday, 19:45 This is more than just another Alan Pardew reunion to pile on top of his Premier League double headers with West Ham, Southampton and Newcastle, this is a pretty heated south London derby and a potential sleeper hit of the Capital One Cup third round. Crystal Palace never seem to outclass or be outclassed by anyone, as evidenced by their last five league games all being decided by one-goal margins : two 2-1 in their favour, one 2-1 against and two 1-0 against. It is probably a blessing that their matches typically have a decisive outcome though, as two victories and three defeats pays more points than five draws. Yet it provides Charlton with a chance too, particularly as the past four clashes between these rivals - and 13 of the most recent 15 over a longer period - were settled by one club scoring one more than the other. Recommended Bet: Back Crystal Palace to win by one @ 3.75 and Charlton to win ...

The Serie A season is fascinatingly poised, with champions of the last four years Juventus allowing Inter - who finished eighth last term - an eight-point head-start and the 2014/15 top three of the Old Lady, Roma and Lazio presently 13th, fourth and tenth respectively. The question is: will the first midweek round of the campaign calm the craziness or abet the absurdity? Let's investigate... Udinese 3.60 v AC Milan 2.30 ; The Draw 3.40 Tuesday, 19:45 Live on BT Sport Europe AC Milan's Sinisa Mihajlovic era has started with two away defeats, yet nobody should be panicking given that their conquerors have been top-three duo Fiorentina and Inter. The going should be easier at the Stadio Friuli, where Udinese have already lost to Palermo and Empoli, though the Rossoneri have been beaten on three successive visits. With that record rendering the outcome a little uncertain, a play of both teams to score is perhaps preferable. The guests are clean she...

As the Capital One Cup gets underway again, former 2013/14 final foes Sunderland and Manchester City are thrown together once more, each with their respective recent Premier League problems. The Black Cats may find this Stadium of Light showdown a welcome break from the rigours of league duty, which has so far not been kind to the Mackems, as they currently sit rock bottom. Sunderland have, however, proven to be a thorn is the side of City during recent seasons, particularly on home soil, where they have snatched 13 points from a possible 18 against their richer rivals. With their only win of the campaign across all competitions so far occurring in this cup, Dick Advocaat’s team are 5/1 to be victors over 90 mins in this fixture, with intriguing odds of 20/1 for a 1-0 result in their favour, a scoreline which has occurred in four of Man City’s past five visits. A David and Goliath bust-up may be somewhat of a fairytale this time around, though, as the Northeast outfit are severely stru...

Aston Villa made it two Midlands derby defeats on the trot as they fell 1-0 to fellow Premier League bottom half battlers West Bromwich Albion, just one matchweek after shockingly surrendering a 2-0 lead to a spirited Leicester City. Tim Sherwood has done much to steady the Villa Park ship since taking over last season, but his relegation-escaping Villans seem to come up with a curious case of travel sickness and stage fright when facing fellow Midlands foes. While Championship club Nottingham Forest can showcase one more dusty European Cup in their trophy cabinet, it is Villa (6/5 with Coral to be relegated) that are currently classed as the big-guns in their region. Should they not have a recent derby record to match it? Of course the Midlands is a vast region, providing plenty of rivals, but the Villans have not dueled regularly with second-tier or below teams such as Coventry City, Birmingham City, Derby County, Forest, Notts County and Wolverhampton Wanderers for some time. Based ...

Tuesday evening will truly make for terrific viewing, as the Capital One Cup round three brings punters a selection of plum midweek match-ups. In this particular trio of tussles, Championship sides Middlesbrough and Wolverhampton Wanderers meet, while Premier League clubs Swansea City and Bournemouth battle plucky second-tier teams Hull City and Preston North End respectively. So, Coral experts preview the most enticing odds from these cracking cup clashes… Hull City v Swansea City The KC Stadium welcomes a Premier League visitor back to it’s turf, as the Swans hit the road and head for Humberside. As hosts, Hull are 11/5 for victory in normal time, with Steve Bruce’s boys flying high in third place in their Championship promotion push. Tigers attackers Abel Hernandez and Mohamed Diame are respective 7/4 and 10/3 shots to be on target and take advantage of the Welsh club’s wobbles away from home. Still, Swansea are favourites at 11/8, or 3/1 to win to nil, having undone Hull twice last...

Luke Shaw suffered an horrific suspected broken leg as Manchester United's return to the Champions League ended in a disappointing 2-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven. Luciano Narsingh and Hector Moreno found the net as the Dutch champions recorded a narrow triumph over United on their first Champions League match in 17 months. But Moreno should have not been on the pitch to head PSV level after Memphis Depay's opener. With 15 minutes gone, the Mexican slid in with a late two-footed challenge on Shaw in the box. The England defender was carried off on a stretcher while receiving oxygen eight minutes later. Disturbing replays showed Shaw's right foot bent at a 45-degree angle, which meant he had surely broken it. Incredibly, referee Nicola Rizzoli did not award a penalty and Moreno was allowed to equalise Depay's stunning solo opener with a header. Then, just before the hour, Narsingh took advantage of some slack marking from Shaw's replacement Marcos Rojo to fi...

The Champions League is back! To mark this occasion, Coral have a sensational special, featuring all the English teams to win. So that is Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea offered at a sublime 7/1 price. Read on to find out why this is such a brilliant bet! Manchester City v Juventus Manuel Pellegrini’s side have a 100 per cent record so far this season, having also not conceded. They are the odds-on 4/5 favourites with Coral to win the match against a Juventus side that is much-changed from their Champions League final appearance last season. The Turin titans have also had a dismal start to the campaign, failing to win any of their three Serie A matches and could well struggle at the Etihad. PSV Eindhoven v Manchester United Louis van Gaal’s side go into this match off the back of a thrilling 3-1 win over rivals Liverpool in the Premier League and look in ideal form to follow up with a victory against their Dutch opponents.  New signing Anthony Martial s...

Chelsea  1.18  v Maccabi Tel Aviv  24.00 ; The Draw  8.60 Wednesday, 19:45 Live on BT Sport 2 Chelsea Having wasted the conspiracy card on the campaign that they coasted to the title and been similarly hasty in deploying the "everything is the physio's fault" trick, Jose Mourinho has seemed as  off his game  in media briefings as his team have on the pitch. After dropping an F bomb on Roberto Martinez after the weekend's defeat to Everton to the ridicule of the assembled press types, he was thoroughly unconvincing in his attempt to dismiss accusations that he is a sufferer of the rare "third season syndrome". The tactician who once discredited Manuel Pellegrini's Real Madrid achievements with the attitude that " second place is just the first loser " saw fit to trumpet that "I won the Super Cup, I lost the cup final, and I went to the Champions League semi-finals" in evaluation of his Bernabeu term three. This is arguably Chelsea...

All matches kick-off at 19:45 on Wednesday Roma  6.20  v Barcelona  1.67 ; The Draw  4.10 Live on BT Sport Showcase and BT Sport Extra 1 This encounter sees Luis Enrique return to the Stadio Olimpico, where he  dropped no hints  that he was a future Champions League-winning boss during a joyless 2011/12, comfortably Roma's worst campaign of the past decade. Both are better off apart. The Spaniard has lifted four trophies in 2015 at Barcelona, and his former employers resurfaced as the second-best team in Serie A in the past two years and now threaten to become number one, with a recent victory over Juventus nudging them in to  2.72  for the scudetto. However, the memory of the capital club's final two home Champions League results last term - a 7-1 loss to Bayern Munich and 2-0 reverse to Manchester City - are too raw for this writer to yet buy them as a threat to a Barcelona side fresh from away successes at Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madri...