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.

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Chelsea will be without Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack when they face Roma on Wednesday but the Blues are playing great without them. “They are not the strongest Roma side I have ever seen,” Chelsea assistant coach Ray Wilkins said. “They have some very good players within it, but it is not the strongest they have produced over the last couple of years. They are still a side to be reckoned with, but if we conduct ourselves in the right fashion we should get a favorable result.” The other Group A match has CFR Cluj taking on Bordeaux.

In Group C it is FC Barcelona at FC Basel with Shakhtar and Sporting Lisbon meeting in the other match. Group B has the two top teams, Inter and Anorthosis Famagusta playing in Milan. Inter is hoping more fans turn out for this match. Coach Jose Mourinho has complained about poor fan turnouts recently. Werder Bremen is at last-place Panathinaikos in the other match.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 am and is filed under 2010 World Cup Betting Tips and Picks, Chelsea, Didier Drogba, European Football Betting, Liverpool, Michael Ballack, Soccer News, Steven Gerrard, UEFA Champions League. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.