UEFA Cup 15 Sept

The bookies have made it very difficult to have a bet in tonight's UEFA Cup games because so few of them have decided to price up all the games. The reason for this is that last year they were badly stung by sharp bettors who took them apart with multiple bets and also because clearly some of the results were extremely dubious in terms of the honesty of the players and officials.

The only bet I think is worth having tonight is to take a team with proven recent UEFA Cup form, Austria Vienna, to beat Viking tonight in Stavanger. Vienna made it to the semi finals last year and have a stronger team this year, demonstrated by the fact they lead the Austrian league by three points from the more famous Rapid Vienna. Viking are by contrast only fourth in the Norwegian league and have little European experience and have only got this far thanks to meeting really tiny clubs so far. Victories over Portadown (3-1 on aggregate) and Rhyl (3-1) are nowhere near good enough form for them to be competitive and Vienna are worth a two point bet with a 1/4 goal start at 1.85.

The only other bet that looks possible is to take APOL Nicosia with a one goal start against Hertha Berlin in Cyprus tonight. The Cypriots beat Maccabi Tel Aviv in qualifying and that form suggests that a goal advantage on handicap at home may just be too generous.