Inter - Fiorentina

Glad my instinct was correct,weird results in England.

Serie A trophy for Massimo Moratti became usual.Losing Cup would accept as a fist in the face.Inter didn’t play for the weekend as their game vs. Parma was postponed,they’re rested,but Mourinho will surely think about next encounter on 10.02..However,Balotelli will get a chance,Sneijder is suspended from league so will play in Cup,Lucio and Milito are also expected to appear.

Fiora won one point from last two games and their spot for CL is in doubt. Additionally,club has been shaken with Mutu affair.Considering they’ll host Roma for the weekend and Bayern after that,think Prandelli will give a chance to his talents. They’re better in statistics as won 5 times in Cup, drew 3 and lost once.However,expect their defensive display and a try to make good result before a re-match.

Hosts are big favorites,have longer list of players and ambition to win the competition.Everything else would be a failure.Home win.
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Tuesday's gossip column

BREAKING GOSSIP

Real Madrid have made Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic their prime transfer target for 2010 and Sir Alex Ferguson has already identified Porto's Bruno Alves as his replacement.-Marca.com (in Spanish) 

TRANSFER GOSSIP

West Ham are planning a January bid for former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu, who is now playing for Italian side Fiorentina.(Daily Mirror)
Meanwhile, West Ham's chances of landing Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni are over after the Italian declared he would not sign for any club other than Roma. (Daily Mirror)
The Hammers, who are without injured forward Carlton Cole, are looking to recall striker Freddie Sears from his loan spell at Crystal Palace.(The Sun) 
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will offload strikers Ryan Babel and Andriy Voronin as well as defender Andrea Dossena so that he can fund a move for Galatasary winger Arda Turan. (The Sun) 
Manchester United winger Nani is set to leave Old Trafford with his representatives talking to clubs in Spain and Italy.(The Independent) 
Nani could be part of a deal that brings Benfica winger Angel Di Maria to Old Trafford. (The Guardian) 
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp may turn to former club Portsmouth in January, with goalkeeper Asmir Begovic the target. (The Sun) 
Alternatively Spurs may also move for Begovic's team-mate keeper David James, leaving Portsmouth to pursue Adelaide stopper Eugene Galekovic.(The Sun) 
Stoke boss Tony Pulis is lining up a £9m offer for West Ham midfielder Scott Parker, who is also attracting interest from Tottenham and Liverpool.(Daily Mirror) 
Bolton have moved closer to signing Real Madrid midfielder Guti after he turned down a move to Turkish side Besiktas.(Daily Mirror) 
Blackburn Rovers are lining up a loan move for Marseille midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa. (Daily Mirror) 
Rovers boss Sam Allardyce is also keen on Saint-Etienne's Algerian midfielder Amine Linganzi Koumba.(The Sun) 
Birmingham are set to make German international striker Kevin Kuranyi the best paid player in the club's history. (Daily Mirror) 
Birmingham are also targeting £4m-rated Peterborough striker Aaron McLean as they look to bolster their European charge.(The Sun) 
West Brom have bid £1.5m for Crystal Palace striker Victor Moses. (Daily Mirror) 

OTHER GOSSIP

Former Chelsea boss and current Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho says he is eyeing up a return to the Premier League. (The Sun) 
Portsmouth's players are set to miss out on being paid on time for the third time this season as their cash crisis continues.(Daily Mirror) 

AND FINALLY

Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov believes no-one can stop the club winning the Premier League this season.(Daily Mirror)

www.bbc.co.uk

Serbia - Romania

For home side the situation is crystal clear. One win in last two games will lead them to the final countdown in South Africa. Under the new national team coach, Radomir Antic, Serbia have made little surprising results, leaving France four points behind. And only against the France, Serbs didn’t notice a win (0-1 defeat in Paris and 1-1 draw at home). Beside all strength that Serbia have been showing (top quality performances, tactic skills and fighting spirit, finally), game against French in previous round showed some weaknesses. First goalie, Vladimir Stojkovic, has competitive games only in national team shirt, while in his club(s) usually warming a bench. He is not in full shape and it causes two outcomes. His direct errors, conceded goal against France was his gift. Second, his insecurity affects on whole defense line. However, Serbia already defeated Romania, as a visitor in Constanza 3-2, team form (and quality, dare to say) is on their side and including full motivation and sold out stadium, Serbs are favorites tonight. Coach Antic has no injury worries, only missing is reserve striker Danko Lazovic who is suspended and best eleven will play. 

Romania failed in another qualification campaign and Sout Africa will remain only as a dream. After turbulent start and plenty of “misunderstandings” on relations Piturka-players-public, national team coach got fired and new boss is talented Razvan Lucescu. Under his guidance, team has been noticing some improvement in performance. He’s also well known as a good motivator. They also were without a real motive in Paris, but put a more than decent display and stopped French (1-1 draw). So, I think it is fair to say they won’t surrender tonight before the game start. Another thing that improves their chances at Marakana is Romania will be first time complete so far in this campaign. Two probably best players, Mutu and Chivu, will play together after a while. Mutu ignores 17 mill.eur penalty, plays in a great shape and will be a big danger for hosts’ back line, while Chivu should bring some safety in front the goal. Although positive result seems too far, Romanians certainly will show a heart. They’re declared as losers from domain press and best possible way to shut ‘em up is to beat Serbia in Belgrade. I think they won’t practice “catenaccio” and will try to play. 

Well, it is sure no one in Serbia would like to leave a decision for the last round and trip to Lithuania. Better team, better shape, higher motivation, home ground and 55 000 noisy fans are the facts that should bring a win. On the other hand, odd is miserable. Mutu and Marica look as a great attacking force, Chivu is dangerous from free kicks as Rat from distance. I think it won’t be so easy as everybody in Serbia expects and although I think the home win is very probable, see bet on goals as a better option. Pinnacle offer great 2.14. Over.

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Thursday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Former Arsenal defender Sol Campbell, who left League Two Notts County last month after only one game with the club, is in talks to join West Brom.(Daily Mirror) 
Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas and Manchester City forward Robinho are the two main targets for European champions Barcelona this summer. Fabregas, though, has refused to respond to recent Spanish media rumours about a potential move. (Daily Mail)
Arsenal and Manchester City are ready to do battle for the signature of Barcelona's veteran defender Carles Puyol, according to reports in Spain.(Daily Mail) 
The agent of Inter Milan defender Maicon believes Manchester United have upped their interest in the Brazilian but insists there are no offers on the table. "United's interest in my client is not something new," he said. "They have been following him for a while."(Daily Mirror) 
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes will be given the funds to bring at least three new players to Eastlands this January to boost their Premier League title bid.(Daily Mail)
Roman Pavlyuchenko's agent expects to reopen negotiations over the Tottenham Hotspur striker's proposed moved to Zenit St Petersburg this January.(Daily Mail) 
The agent of former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu has put a number of European clubs on alert by admitting his client could leave Serie A club Fiorentina in January.(Daily Mirror) 

OTHER GOSSIP

Icelandic biscuit baron Eggert Magnusson is plotting to return as the new owner of West Ham. The 62-year-old previously held a 5% stake in the club from November 2006 to December 2007 as the figurehead of the consortium largely backed by Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, who relinquished control of the club in June 2009.(The Sun) 
Liverpool co-owner George Gillett is flying to Saudi Arabia next week for talks in a bid to sell his 50% stake in the club to Prince Faisal bin Fahd.(Daily Mirror )
Birmingham chairman David Gold is close to resigning and is set to follow David Sullivan and Karren Brady out of St Andrews following the takeover of the club by Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung. (Daily Mirror) 
Former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards fears the club could be thrown into financial ruin if current owners the Glazer family decide to leave Old Trafford.(Daily Mail)
The FA will call upon David Beckham and the Royal Family to boost their 2018 World Cup bid after the campaign was attacked by Fifa vice-president Jack Warner on Wednesday.(Daily Mirror) 
Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey has revealed that regular chats with boss Arsene Wenger have given him confidence to believe he can fulfil his potential.(The Sun) 
Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko, now with Dinamo Kiev has launched an attack on his former boss at Chelsea Jose Mourinho, saying that the now Inter Milan boss rarely spoke to him during his time at Stamford Bridge.(Daily Mirror) 
Everton striker Louis Saha has admitted he almost quit football after being driven to the depths of despair by an injury jinx that wrecked his Manchester United career.(Daily Mail) 
Hull striker Caleb Folan, currently on loan at Middlesbrough, has hit back at Tigers manager Phil Brown, saying comments the latter made about the players attitude in training were "pathetic" and "childish".(Daily Star) 
Ipswich striker Kevin Lisbie, currently on loan at Colchester, says he would find it difficult to play under Town manager Roy Keane again after being told he was surplus to requirements at Portman Road this summer.(Daily Mirror) 

AND FINALLY

Burnley manager Owen Coyle, 43, played 72 minutes as a striker for the club's reserve side on Wednesday after injuries and international calls left them short of players.(The Sun) 
Manchester City have sent club doctor Jamie Butler on a 7,000 mile trip to Argentina to ensure that Pablo Zabaleta, who has a hamstring injury, is not selected by his country for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers with Peru and Uruguay.(Daily Mirror)
www.bbc.co.uk

Fiorentina - Liverpool

Fiorentina are performing well in domain Serie A. The main objective for this season is a spot for Champions League next year, they occupy 4th place, play well so far and it seems that target is reachable. At their home, Artemio Franchi, have all three wins (Palermo, Cagliari and Sampdoria) without a conceded goal. For domain frames, Viola have more than decent squad. Safe defence that doesn’t make too much errors, tough midfield and some quality strikers in front. But, also face two big problems. First, criterion that referees have in European games is much different than in Italy. Tougher tackles and less number of fouls usually put Italians in subordinate position. Especially when they play against English who are physically much stronger. Viola will have a lots of problems only to bring the ball on the opposite half and their biggest hope is some free kick, or individual efforts of their strikers. And here we come to the second big problem. Top striker and key of the keys, Alberto Gilardino, begins a two-match ban for elbowing Toulalan in Fiorentina's defeat by Lyon (0-1) two weeks ago. So, in front could be Adrian Mutu (in depression because the “Chelsea case”) and Stevan Jovetic, young Montenegrin striker who plays in excellent shape lately. So, free kicks and Jovetic will be the biggest (only, I think) threats to the visitors.

After disaster start in Premier League, Liverpool have been consolidated and started to play like title contender should. They’re in the run of six competitive wins in a row with 13 goals scored in last three Premier League games! Fernando Torres scored a hat-trick in Saturday's 6-1 victory over Hull and successfully sent a message to Florence. Rafael Benitez without a doubt wants to secure a progress in group as soon as possible and get a possibility to play with the fringe players and rest his keys. On the other hand, Liverpool still haven’t played against second strongest team in the group Olympique Lyonnais and possible failure in Italy could complicate the situation. This game has a big weight for the Reds and although they’ll have some hard games in next weeks in Premier (trip to Stamford at Sunday is the first) I don’t think Rafa will rest anybody tonight. Only missings will be midfielders Javier Mascherano (sick) and Yossi Benayoun who picked up a leg injury against Hull. The chance should finally be given to Ryan Babel, while Daniel Agger could return in defence line. 

Considering all facts that can be important for a win here, I give a clear advantage to Liverpool in all of them, except home atmosphere at Artemio Franchi. So, main question is how serious visitors will approach to this game. Win would open the door from the next round, while other outcome would bring a trouble and I think they’ll be very serious. I see 1.80 as a reasonable odd for this level of risk and everything more accept as a gift. Pinnacle offer 2.00. Away win.

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