Cup Games

Today we'll be looking at Cup games from Europe.

French Cup

Auxerre v Marseille

Auxerre currently sit in 14th position in Ligue 1 with a fairly poor home record (2-6-2, 13/12). Marseille are currently 5th in ligue 1 with a decent away record (3-4-3, 13/10). While this may seem like quite a large gap, there is only eight points separating the teams.

Just over a month ago, these teams faced off in the same fixture at Auxerre with the result finishing 1-1. In that match Auxerre had quite a lengthy injury list to key players whilst Marseille fielded a full strength team. Auxerres last two home games have ended in draws and Marseilles last two away games have also ended in draws. Auxerre record against the top six teams at home indicates a decent draw bias (1-1-0) and Marseilles record against the middle eight teams away has a strong draw bias (1-4-0). Also, considering Auxerre has nine home games scoring a goal and nine home games conceding a goal and Marseille has had eight away games scoring and seven away games conceding, both teams to score looks a good bet.

Tip: Draw @ 3.0, Both teams to score @ 1.89 (Betfair)


Italian Cup

Sampdoria v Udinese

Sampdoria are currently 9th in Serie A with a decent home record (4-4-1, 11/5). Udinese are currently 8th in Serie A with a slightly poor away record (3-2-5, 16/18). 4 points separates the teams.

These two teams played back in September when Udinese were already looking like relegation candidates and an uninspired 0-0 draw wasn't what Sampdoria fans were expecting. Udinese have since become much stronger, especially at home, lifting themselves into contention for a spot in Europe next season. Sampdoria has also lost Antonio Cassano to AC Milan, although they have supplemented that by taking Federico Macheda on loan from Manchester United.

Sampdoria have won their last two home games, including a 2-1 win over Roma at the two weeks ago. Udinese managed a 4-4 draw against AC Milan at the San Siro that same weekend and then followed that up by beating Genoa at Genoa 4-2 last weekend. Sampdorias home record has a slight draw bias against the middle eight teams (1-2-0) whilst Udineses record is evenly distributed when playing away against the middle eight teams (1-1-1). Whilst these games are notoriously difficult to predict (in my opinion anyway) and although Udinese has quite a decent attack, the fact that Sampdoria have kept five clean sheets in nine games at home in Serie A says they should have enough to halt Udinese.

Tip: Sampdoria to win @ 2.35


Roma v Lazio

Roma are currently 4th in Serie A with a very good home record (7-2-0, 17/7) whilst Lazio are currently 3rd with a decent away record (4-2-3, 8/7). 2 points separates these teams.

Roma and Lazio is a derby game for those who don't know.. and im sure most will know that these are especially hard to pick. Roma are ranked 1st in home team performance so far this season whilst Lazio are ranked 5th away. Roma are missing their first choice keeper, Julio Sergio, and their first choice centre back, Philippe Mexes, for this game. Lazio also have injury problems with Giuseppe Biava and Javier Garrido both out.

Roma have won their last five home games, although two of those games came against teams in the bottom three. Lazio have drawn or lost their last four away games, which includes a loss against 17th placed Cesena. Roma have scored in eight of their nine home matches in Serie A this season and although it is a derby and anything could happen, I should think Roma would see this one through.

Tip: Roma to win @ 1.9


Other good bets include:

Barcelona to win halftime/fulltime @ 2.2 (Betfair)
Real Madrid to win @ 1.7