It’s the second time in a very short period in which the big four ( Man. Utd., Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal) fail in getting a win.

Maybe the most disadvantaged team from the four, would have to be Chelsea, as they played at home against a team was is clearly inferior.But that’s way sports are great because at any time, any contender has a chance.

But weather we like ot or not, top teams do have bad and good periods. The main difference between a top team and a mediocre one is the period of those bad periods. For example let’s look at Spurs.Before the start of the season they promised a lot only after a few bad results ( entering the bad period ) they managed only to continue the bad period instead of bouncing back on track right away. Now let’s take a look at the way Manchester Untied started the 07/08 season.Only 2 pct in the first 3 matches. And one of the matches was with Man City, but after the 3 games they managed to get the win that would set them on the right track and win the championship at the end.

If we now take a closer look at the cause of these bad periods, we see some reasons for the results. The most common is the absence of crucial players (due to injury or other reasons).The second most common problem is fatigue.The players are simply to tired and cannot play at 100%.Most of the top teams have to play both in national event and in the international ones (Champions League and UEFA Cup).

I see it like this. If any of the top teams do not have any crucial players missing and the team is not affected by any sort of fatigue, they do look like a sure winner. That is why most of the times, the boxing day and the matches near the new year’s day, bring important points for the big four.

As a conclusion, i have to say that i am looking forward to the premier league matches of the end of the year in which the big four are included. Especially the one of Chelsea and Man Utd.

Manchester played Sunderland yesterday, in the Premier League.Sunderland weren’t in the best of form and with couch Keane deciding to leave the club just before the match, Manchester looked as huge favorites.

Above we have the Manchester United betfair graphic at half time.It clearly shows that United was quite the favorite, with some big bets on a United win.But despite the fact that United was the better team on the pitch they didn’t manage to score any goals and the scoreline was 0-0 at half time.

The second half begun and United continued to dominate, but still no goal.Ronaldo had to be changed and that didn’t help the United “backers” at all.So, the odds kept on going up and up and up.

And then, when you would think United has no chance, and Sunderland managed to get at least one point, Vidic scores.

Tomorrow we have two football matches in the Premier League that you just can’t miss.

First we got the Manchester derby, played on the City of Manchester stadium.

Then we got Chelsea hosting Arsenal on Stamford Bridge.

That’s all in England.

In the Bundesliga we got Stuttgart hosting Schalke 04, on Sunday.

In Serie A, a team that is slowly recovering, AS Roma plays on Olimpico with Fiorentina.

And finally in Primera, Barcelona, a team that seems to score at least 3 goals everywhere they go, will now play away at Sevilla, another team that has players that like to find the back of the net more often than not.Maybe a over 4.5 goals bet would be worthwhile.

Whatever you bets are this weekend, I wish you good luck and a large profit.

Here is yet another betfair graphic, this time, form one of yesterday’s match in which Aalborg hostet Manchester United.

The graphic is for Manchester United just before the start of the match.Again, some really big bets.

It’s Tuesday, that means it’s time for some Champions League matches.Here is what we have today :

AaB – Man. United
Arsenal – Porto
BATE – Juventus
Bayern – Lyon
Fenerbahçe – Dynamo Kyiv
Fiorentina – FC Steaua Bucureşti
Villarreal – Celtic
Zenit – Real Madrid

Manchester United will be looking for a win and might very well get it, while BATE could snatch a draw from Juve.