CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP DRAW BETTING

Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United have been handed favourable draws in the Champions League group stages whilst Tottenham face the champions in their debut season.
United are up against Valencia, Rangers and Bursaspor with the all-British affair certain to produce one of the most fascinating ties of the round. Arsenal will face a tricky trip to Donetsk but will be confident in progressing to the next round from a group which also includes Braga and Partizan Belgrade. Chelsea will also have to negotiate a trip to Eastern Europe as they take on Spartak Moscow as well as Marseille and FC Zilina.
Tottenham have tough fixtures against Inter Milan, Werder Bremen and FC Twente if they are to make it to the knockout stages of this year’s competition.
The Champions League betting odds haven’t fluctuated too much since the draw was made. Chelsea remain the shortest price English side at odds of 6/1 with SkyBet, Manchester United are an 8/1 chance, Arsenal 12/1 and Spurs 33/1.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa’s exit from the Europa League last night – at the hands of Rapid Vienna for the second year running – has considerably damaged Kevin MacDonald’s chances of securing the job on a permanent basis. The current caretaker manager was thought to be one of the front runners to secure the job on a permanent basis but consecutive defeats could have forced Villa chairman Randy Lerner to look elsewhere.
The man now heading the betting is Lerner’s American compatriot Bob Bradley, who can be backed at odds of 7/4 with Ladbrokes. His lack of experience in European club football will be a disconcerting factor for the Villa board but a lack of any other appealing options means that he is an appropriate favourite.