UEFA Cup 8 March

The last 16 of the UEFA Cup at least means all the teams are trying but with the games played over two legs at this stage punters need to be careful. Very often you will find these games turn into defence dominated contests in which neither side wants to concede a goal (or more) in the first leg for fear of leaving themselves too big a mountain to climb in the second leg. The home side is usually forced to go all out on the attack in the last 20 minutes of the game but for Asian handicap bettors you need to be very careful about any large handicap lines.

Braga are fourth in the Portugese league and are a decent side, having defeated Parma in the last round. They meet a Spurs side who it is difficult to assess. A month ago you would have wanted to avoid Tottenham on their travels at any cost but they seem to have turned it round and they have hit a patch of form. The bookies certainly give Spurs plenty of respect as they make the visitors favourite for this contest, which seems a bit extreme. Spurs would probably happily settle for a draw and may be more focussed on the FA Cup quarter final against Chelsea that they play on Sunday. Braga have Vandinha and Madrid back in the side while Spurs have the rested Keane but will probably not have Jenas. This is hardly five star betting material but the bookies look to have over-done it on Spurs and a one point bet on Braga (+¼) at 1.88 is the call.

[Spurs won 3-2]

AZ Alkmaar travel to Newcastle and while the Magpies are in decent form at the moment I don’t think they are great value tonight. AZ are a side that has emerged in the last couple of years and have a strong squad which includes five Dutch internationals. Their speciality is scoring a lot of goals – usually two or three a match – and as a result they are a great side to be ‘with’ on the Asian handicap. I expect this to be an all out attacking contest, which is something Newcastle may not be able to live with over 90 minutes as they still have a number of injury problems. A split stake bet of one point on AZ (+ ½ ) at 1.78 and one point on over 2.5 goals at 1.86 is the call here.

[Newcastle won 4-2]

At the prices the only other teams that appealed were Benfica and Celta Vigo (both + ¼) but both are only marginal value and I am happy to leave those contests alone.