United and City in European Action Tonight
- By A.J. Ryder on September 14, 2011 17:35 GMT
We're just a few hours away from kick off of the second round of first match days in the 2011/12 Champions League. The widely-anticipated European competition has seen some of the best clubs in the world competing in past years and this one is no different. All the usual suspects are back with a few new faces as well.
Arsenal were dealt a tough blow yesterday as it looked like they would be able to secure an extremely important European victory but all hopes were dashed as their German opponents scored a cracker at the death to put the game on 1-1 footing.
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Chelsea secured a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen, led by former Blues star Michael Ballack. Fernando Torres didn't grab that elusive goal but had a hand in creating the other two. The new Emile Heskey?
While Manchester City certainly have the big bucks, it looks like they will be forced to navigate a very tricky Champions League group with a home fixture against Napoli being one of their easier matches. This is a must-win fixture for the Citizens and you reckon they'll be looking for a big result in their first top-level European match in quite some time.
City trade as the distinct favourites with a 4/11 price to get the victory over the Italian side who trade at 8/1.
High-flying Manchester United seem to have been able to find an extra gear to respond to Man City's excellent run of games week over week. When City rout a team 5-0, United top Arsenal 8-2. When City puts three past another team – United hit Bolton for five. United have been extremely impressive this year and it has been tough to get a quality price on them.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men are listed at even money in their away fixture against Benfica. United have struggled against Portuguese opposition many times in the past but they have really been hitting their stride in the start of this season, which has been all the more surprising since United usually start a bit slowly. The pace in midfield is really what is setting them apart and it will be interesting to see whether they attack with the same verve today. The Portuguese hosts are listed at 5/2 for the victory, but it's understandable that United will be very popular on accumulator tickets today.
