UEFA Cup Football: Frankfurt Vs Newcastle (Plus Many More!)

UEFA Cup action resumes this week for 32 of Europe's top teams with just Newcastle United as the sole UK representatives playing this week. Glenn Roeder's Toon Army travel to Germany to face Eintracht Frankfurt knowing they are already assured of a place in the knock-out stages following their impressive 100% record from their 3 group H games so far. They beat Spanish side Celta Vigo 2-1 at home last week and will be high on confidence after they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at the weekend in the Premiership. Frankfurt are languishing at the foot of the table on just one point and have it all to do if they are to even think about qualification to the next stage.

The Geordies will be without defender Celestine Babayaro through injury and also without striker Shola Ameobi who has just undergone surgery in America on his hip, which means he is likely to be out for the rest of the season. That isn't Glenn Roeder's only injury problem; he has such severe absence problems in his squad at the moment that he only really has approximately 12 full time first team players to chose from, so he is going to have to rely on some junior members of his squad to get him through this tie, so it's probably just as well that Newcastle are already ensured of a place in the next round.

There is good news for The Magpies though as they do have the goal heroes from the last round available. Antoine Sibierski and Steven Taylor both netted last time out in their 2-1 recovery against Celta Vigo at St James Park – a recovery that ensured Newcastle would be through to the next stage with games to spare.

Newcastle are really good value for this tie at 4/1 with Coral and bet365, which is perhaps a reflection on the fact that Glenn Roeder is very likely to field a much weakened and inexperienced side for this game. Frankfurt are the strong favourites for this tie, which is probably fair considering the fact that they are the home side, they simply have to win and they are going to be facing a weakened opposition. Most firms are offering 8/11 on the home side including Ladbrokes and UK Betting, whilst the draw is priced at 5/2 with bet365 and Ladbrokes.

The game is being shown live on Channel 5; (kick off 7:45pm), so why not watch it and have a punt on the correct score and first goal scorer markets that most firms are offering. Frankfurt victories are the shortest price options with a 1-0 victory being the favourite at 11/2 with bet direct. You can get 10/1 with UK Betting and Premier Bet on a 1-0 Newcastle victory or if you fancy a repeat of the 2-1 score-line from their last UEFA Cup outing you can get 16/1 through bet365 and Blue Square. Antoine Sibierski scored last time out against Celta Vigo and he also scored at the weekend against Portsmouth so he is the man in form right now. He is priced at 10/3 to score at any time with Coral and is a massive 11/1 for the first goal with bet365 – great value considering you can only get 8/1 on him with some firms. Ioannis Amanatidis is the favourite to score first for Frankfurt at 13/2 with bet365 and can be backed with the same firm at 7/4 to score at any time.

There are 16 other quality and crucial games on which to have a flutter on Wednesday and Thursday night. There is a full list below with the kick off times all scheduled for 19.45 GMT, and best available prices listed in brackets.

Wednesday's fixtures:

AZ (5/11) v Liberec (7/1) Draw (3/1)
Besiktas (evs.) v Club Brugge (57/17) Draw (12/5)
Dinamo Bucuresti (6/4) v Bayer Leverkusen (15/8) Draw (9/4)
Grasshoppers (5/1) v Sevilla (8/11) Draw (11/4)
Lens (1/2) v Parma (15/2) Draw (16/5)
Livorno (4/5) v Maccabi Haifa (15/4) Draw (5/2)
Osasuna (8/15) v Odense BK (7/1) Draw (57/17)
Partizan Belgrade (7/5) v Auxerre (28/13) Draw (9/4)

Thursday's fixtures:

AS Nancy (11/10) v Feyenoord (3/1) Draw (23/10)
Ajax (8/11) v Espanyol (4/1) Draw (5/2)
Austria Magna (7/5) v Sparta Prague (15/8) Draw (9/4)
Celta Vigo (5/6) v Fenerbahce (7/2) Draw (5/2)
Eintracht Frankfurt (8/11) v Newcastle (4/1) Draw (5/2)
Mlada Boleslav (6/4) v PSG (7/4) Draw (5/2)
Panathinaikos (19/20) v Rapid Bucuresti (7/2) Draw (12/5)
Wisla Krakow (7/5) v Basle (9/5) Draw (9/4)

Good luck with your selections!

Ed note: Secure £100 in free bets with a new account at Bet365

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