The expectations are starting to build for Liverpool under manager Rafael Benitez. The team is now all alone at the top of the Soccer Betting Premier League standings and fans are starting to get excited. Benitez is urging caution though as his team faces a tough week. “It is a crucial week for us. We are at the top for the first time and everybody is waiting for our reaction, to see whether we can we handle it.” Benitez said, “So we must concentrate even more now. We must not slip up or lose our focus. We are in a fantastic position and we will try to stay there as long as we can. The key for me is that the team is working together, all of them helping and motivating their team-mates. That is a massive difference.”

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It has been 18 years since Liverpool won the title and fans are definitely excited about the prospects this season. “Keeping a lid on expectation is difficult. The fans want to see the team at the top and they badly want the title, so it is difficult to keep our people calm.” Benitez said, “We know we have the responsibility to give the same message to everyone, the fans in particular.”

Liverpool hosts Portsmouth on Wednesday and that will not be easy considering there could be a letdown for Liverpool after their 1-0 win on Sunday at Chelsea. “We played particularly well at Chelsea in the second half, we had more confidence and more options on the counter attack. They also were nervous, they had been unbeaten at home in the league for a long time and they were trying to go forward too quickly, and they made mistakes.”

Soccer Betting News: Liverpool at the Top of the Premier League

Portsmouth head coach Harry Redknapp left his team over the weekend and was given total control of Tottenham after the club fired head coach Juande Ramos. It didn’t take long for Redknapp to turn things around as he was in charge as Tottenham won 2-0 at Bolton on Sunday. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy felt a change had to be made after the team started with just two points in eight matches, their worst start in 100 years.” At this stage, where Tottenham is we need a fighter, we need someone who has inspiration,” Levy said, “I have had various conversations with Harry over a number of years. He almost got here, but now he is here. I’m a Spurs fans and it’s a sickening feeling seeing Spurs where they are and we need to get back up where we belong which is near the top.”

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The move from Portsmouth is a shock considering Redknapp had a big contract and was making progress. “I decided it was a good move for everybody, for Portsmouth as well in the long term and they have a terrific compensation deal when things were a bit tight,” Redknapp said. “I just thought maybe it was time to move on and Tottenham are a big, big club. I thought ‘Let’s just give it a go before it is too late.” It is expected that Tottenham will be a more serious player in the Soccer Betting Premier League this season and in future seasons with Redknapp at the helm. “In Harry, we are accepting with his appointment that now is the right time for us to move back to a more traditional style of football management at our club,” Levy said. “One which we believe will be capable of initiating our climb back up the Premiership table and to maintaining our challenge in the UEFA, Carling and FA Cup competitions.”

Soccer Betting Preview: Redknapp Leaves Portsmouth for Tottenham

The top two teams in the Soccer Betting Premier League, Chelsea and Liverpool, resume play in the Champions League this week. This is a key week for both clubs as they meet for the first time in Premier League play on Sunday but first they have Champions League work to do on Wednesday. Liverpool faces Atletico while Chelsea plays AS Roma.

Chelsea has the easier game since they are at home while Liverpool goes on the road to face Atletico Madrid and they will not have striker Fernando Torres. The winner of Wednesday’s match would vault into the lead halfway through Group D play. It is likely that both Liverpool and Atletico will advance regardless, since PSV Eindhoven and Marseille have done very little. The match means a lot more to Atletico because reports have it that a loss on Wednesday to Liverpool would cost Atletico head coach Javier Aguirre his job.

Liverpool is expected to have Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane and Yossi Benayoun in the lineup on Wednesday. Dirk Kuyt will take the striking role with Torres out of the lineup. “This is the big one in our group, to win would be a very strong statement. We know Atletico are a very strong, tough side but it is another challenge and one we will rise to,” Kuyt said. Atletico’s top striker Sergio Aguero may not play due to muscle problems. Atletico will also be without defender Tomas Ujfalusi due to injury.

Soccer Betting News: Champions League Action Resumes this Week

Argentina was shocked in the Soccer Betting World Cup qualifying 1-0 by Chile on Wednesday and coach Alfio Basile decided he had seen enough and resigned the next day. The resignation was a surprise to some including the president of the AFA, Julio Grondona. The AFA tried to convince Basile to stay but it was not to be. Possible replacements for Basile include Argentina’s youth coach Sergio Batista, River Plate’s Diego Simeone and Miguel Angel Russo of San Lorenzo. Argentina has some time to find a coach since the team doesn’t play again until November 19th in a friendly against Scotland. The next game in World Cup qualifying for Argentina is in March when they play Venezuela. Argentina has a talented squad that includes Lionel Messi, Juan Roman Riquelme and Sergio Aguero but they have not played well recently. The loss to Chile was the first loss ever to Chile in official competition. With the loss Argentina dropped into a tie with Chile for third place in South America. It is not a disaster though since the top four automatically qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Since 2006, Argentina has not been that good under Basile. They have 14 wins, eight ties and six losses. They finished second to Brazil in last year’s Copa America tournament.

Soccer News: Argentina Coach Resigns after loss to Chile

Brian McBride scored two goals as the Chicago Fire clinched a playoff spot in the MLS with a 2-2 draw against Columbus. The Crew actually led 2-1 before McBride tied it in the 79th minute. McBride earned MLS player of the week honors with the two goals. More playoff spots will be on the line this week and next as most teams have just two matches remaining. The draw was also good for Columbus as the point clinched for them the best overall record in the league. Chicago already knows that they will face New England in the Soccer Betting first round of the MLS Cup playoffs. The Fire were 3-0 against the Revolution during the regular season.

The Los Angeles Galaxy were without David Beckham but got a 3-2 win over Colorado to keep their slim hopes alive. Beckham left to join England for World Cup qualifying. The Galaxy are in sixth place in the Western Conference, two points behind Colorado and four points out of a playoff spot with just two matches remaining.

Houston is leading the Western Conference by two points over Chivas USA. The Dynamo are unbeaten in their last six matches. Chivas clinched a playoff spot as well and they are still in the running for the top spot in the West as they are just two points back. Also in the West, FC Dallas got a very important draw with Toronto that puts them in position to clinch a playoff spot. FC Dallas is unbeaten in their last four. Real Salt Lake got a draw with New York and they are also in position to clinch a spot in the playoffs. In the East, Kansas City moved back into a playoff spot with a 1-0 win against New England.

Read more on Soccer News: Chicago Clinches MLS Playoff Spot

Qualifying for the Soccer Betting 2010 World Cup in South Africa continues on Saturday as a number of high profile teams are in action. Portugal welcomes back Cristiano Ronaldo while Spain and England look to remain at the top of their groups. France and Germany are in need of wins in their groups.

Spain is looking good with six points in European Group 5 as they lead Turkey and Belgium by two points. Spain has not lost in 25 games and will look to continue their unbeaten streak at Estonia and Belgium.

England has started World Cup qualifying strong and could remain unbeaten with wins against Kazakhstan and Belarus. Coach Fabio Capello has left Michael Owen off the squad for those two matches while recalling Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Manchester City manager Mark Hughes was happy that Wright-Phillips was rewarded. “It is just reward for an outstanding start he has made to the resumption of his City career,” Hughes said, “He came back to a club he knows well, he is playing with a smile on his face and both Shaun and the club are benefiting from that.

Read more on Soccer Betting Preview: World Cup Qualifying Continues Saturday

The Soccer Betting Premier League has been dominated by Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in recent seasons. Liverpool wants to join those three teams and so far in the 2008 season, they have. Liverpool star Dirk Kuyt believes his team can stay at the top. Every three games we have a big game. We had Everton and PSV last week, and our target is just to win every game and try to be there by the end of the season. But it was vital to keep pace with Chelsea before the internationals. We can leave with a good feeling. We’ve already had one international break and we came back in our first game after it and beat Manchester United, so I wouldn’t say it comes at a bad time. Anyway, we don’t need any excuses. We’ll just keep on going and see how we do against Wigan in our next game.

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One problem for Liverpool is that they will be without defender Martin Skrtel for months after he suffered damage to his posterior cruciate ligament of his right knee.

Read more on Soccer Bettin Preview: Liverpool and Chelsea Lead Premier League

Many Soccer Betting Premier League teams are dealing with injuries heading into this weekend’s action. Chelsea is at the top of the standings with their unbeaten start but they will be missing a number of key players in Sunday’s match against Aston Villa. In their Wednesday Champions League match with FCR Cluj they were without Joe Cole, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole. What is even worse is that they lost Didier Drogba to a knee injury in that match and he could be out of a while. John Terry and Alex were also hurt in that match. “I need to think for the game on Sunday,” said manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, “I have a few days to build the team again. I don’t know now what the possibilities I have for Sunday are.”

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The injuries really could cause Chelsea to fall out of first place. “If Didier is out for a while, we will have to pitch in with goals from all around the team, which we can do, though the situation is not ideal,” said midfielder Frank Lampard, “The experience is not really there, but I believe the quality is.”

Read more on Soccer Betting Preview: Premier League Teams Dealing with Injuries