Football odds: Uefa Cup Thursday preview

Injury-struck Bolton's European odyssey looks destined to end at Sporting Lisbon on Thursday but Rangers represent great value at 11/2 to lower the colours of Werder Bremen. Click here for a free £25 to bet on Uefa Cup football with Betfair After a promising start at the Reebok, Gary Megson has found the going tough in charge of Bolton Wanderers. The Trotters steadied the ship by holding Sporting Braga, Aston Villa, West Ham, Bayern Munich and Middlesbrough in Megson's first six games in charge - and then they beat Manchester United at home. Since then, though, the ship has started to list again and now, ensconced as they are in the bottom three in the Premier League table, Wanderers find themselves in danger of sinking into the Championship. However, there is one ray of sunshine in what has been an otherwise gloomy few months, and that is Bolton's remarkable unfathomable and unexpected UEFA Cup progress. It's not even as if they have had easy opponents with Bayern, Braga, Crvena Zvezda and Atletico Madrid all having tried and failed to end their European adventure. On Thursday it is Sporting Lisbon's turn to try and send the uninvited guest back to whence they came and, after scoring an away goal in the 1-1 draw in Lancashire, the Portuguese outfit will be confident of success against a side missing no fewer than nine first-team players. Goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, captain Kevin Nolan, strikers Kevin Davies and El Hadji Djouf, Matt Taylor, Ivan Campo, Andy O'Brien and Ricardo Gardener are all out as is the suspended goalscorer from the first leg Gavin McCann. And Tamir Cohen, Grzegorz Rasiak and Gretar Steinsson are all ineligible. As ever Bolton can be expected to batten down the hatches and score an away goal from a set-piece, but with so many players out it's impossible to see beyond a Sporting win, even if the Lisbon outfit were themselves beaten by Guimaraes at the weekend. Bolton have lost their last two matches - against Blackburn and Liverpool - at the cost of seven goals and no small amount of team morale - and it will take another miracle from Megson to spare his side a beating in this contest. In the evening's other UEFA Cup tie Rangers represent excellent value to beat Werder Bremen in Germany. The 2-0 lead from the first leg was largely attributable to the dodgy goalkeeping of Tim Wiese but, although Bremen are second in the Bundesliga, recent defeats to Eintracht Frankfurt and Stuttgart suggest that they are eminently beatable. Their 6-3 defeat against Stuttgart at the weekend was described by coach Thomas Schaaf as "incredibly naive." "We conceded five of our six goals from counter-attacks," he said, which is exactly what is likely to happen against Rangers, who will sit back and protect their two-goal advantage while Bremen, who are attack-minded anyway, will go for broke. Rangers are much the wiser for their recent European experiences, the latest of which saw them unfortunate to go out of this season's Champions League at the group stage in spite of wins against Stuttgart and Lyon and a goalless draw with Barcelona. In short 11/2 is a standout price. It's just Scot to be snapped up... Verdict: 2pts Sporting @ 8/13 (Betfair); 3pts Rangers @ 11/2 (Betfair) Click here for a free £25 to bet on Uefa Cup football with Betfair #1 Betfair Bonus £25 Free Bet.#2 Ladbrokes £25 Free Bet.#3 Paddypower Bonus £20 Free Bet.