Tottenham faces uphill battle against Arsenal

Soccer Betting Lines

09/14/2007 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham manager Martin Jol is on the hot seat as his club has won just one of its first five games, and things will not get any easier on Saturday when Spurs welcome London-rivals Arsenal to White Hart Lane.

Jol faces a lineup decision ahead of the match with captain Ledley King unavailable because he is still recovering from knee surgery. Young defender Younes Kaboul is likely to take his place, but the former Auxerre man will have a heavy challenge in front of him as he will have to cope with a strong Arsenal attack that features striker Robin Van Persie.

The Dutchman has done an admirable job filling the shoes of departed striker Thierry Henry, but he must continue his good form if the Gunners are to remain near the top of the standings.

Arsenal is coming off of a 3-1 win over Portsmouth last time out, and has shown the quality to stay in the title race over the course of the season.

Manager Arsene Wenger is facing a number of lineup choices, especially in goal. Starter Jens Lehmann allowed two terrible goals in the team's first two games, and has not played since because of an Achilles injury.

The German international has recovered from that problem and played for Germany this past week, but an elbow injury is now the reason that Manuel Almunia will remain in goal, sparing Wenger the difficult decision for another week.

"At the moment I have not really wondered," Wenger told the club's website. "I knew yesterday that Jens could not play so we go for continuity at the moment. We'll see what happens [when he comes back] but this is not the only difficult decision I have to make right now."

Almunia has been solid in Lehmann's absence, and it will be interesting to see if Wenger is willing to put the unsteady Lehmann back in the lineup if Almunia is playing well.

It remains to be seen how newly-signed Lassana Diarra will fit into this team, and with Mathieu Flamini playing well at right back, Wenger must decide if he wants to put Bacary Sagna back into that spot or keep going with the in-form Flamini.

Jol would like to have to make such decisions, but for now he will settle for a few positive results to get himself out of hot water.

Spurs carried lofty expectations into this season, but their terrible start has left Jol's future with the team in jeopardy.

If Tottenham drops Saturday's game to Arsenal, you can expect the clock to start ticking on Jol's time with the team. A turnaround is needed now, but it may have to wait a week with Arsenal coming to town.

In other action on Saturday, Manchester United will have Cristiano Ronaldo and possibly Wayne Rooney back in the lineup at Everton, league-leaders Liverpool visit bottom-half club Portsmouth, struggling sides Bolton and Birmingham tussle at St. Andrews Stadium and Reading takes on Sunderland. Middlesbrough travels to Upton Park to meet West Ham, Wigan entertains Fulham and Chelsea, coming off of a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa, hosts Blackburn.

Sunday's game features Aston Villa, coming off of that big win against Chelsea, taking on Manchester City, while Newcastle and Derby round out the weekend's action on Monday.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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