Denman's Betting Journal: Football is a game of contrast

Contrast in football playing style is often open to debate and people have their opinions on the correct way to play football. Two teams I'm backing tommorrow definitley have a large contrast in playing style but cna be equally effective in their own right.

Firstly I'm backing Stoke City in their Premiership match against Man City. Firstly the Britannia as become a stronghold for Stoke City with the loud vocal backing from their supporters. As a result the Britannia is probably one of, if not the most intimidating stadiums in the league. Whilst home advantage is a big plus for Stoke here it's not the only reason I opted for Stoke in this match. Man City haven't been playing great football over the last few weeks despite picking up home wins against Bolton and Portsmouth they were outplayed for large parts in thoose games, Mancini's honeymoon period is over and Man City have dropped points against lesser sides like they did under Hughes. Defeat to nothing more than an average Hull City side showed their vulnerabilities away from home were their record (W3, D5, L4) is very average for a side which is suppose to be challenging for the top four.

Stoke themselves have been in a decent vein of form since the new year, and are undeafeated in 2010 in fact. They come off the back of the FA Cup tie against their opponents in this match, Man City, in which they managed to come from behind to force a replay. This should ultimately give them even more confidence and I tihnk the Stoke crowd will really be up for this one. My only concern is the injury to probably their best player in Ethertington. One thing you can guarantee is that Delap will be launching in thoose trademark long-throws of his, which Man City struggled to cope against on Sunday and which in fact resulte din Stoke's equalizer in that game.

I wouldn't put anyone off backing Stoke to win the game outright. But I'd rather play it safe and take Stoke on the Asian Handicap at +0.25.

Man City v Stoke City Tip:
Stoke City (+0.25) @ 1.90 (Bet365)

Meanwhile the Champions League semi-finals kick-off with Man Utd v AC Milan and Lyon v Real Madrid. I've opted to stay clear of the Milan/Man Utd, think it's got a good chance of being under 2.5goals but the odds offered don't appela to me. I'd like to focus my attention on the other semi-final, which in my opinion will probably be the most entertaining game of the two.

Lyon have not been in the greatest form domestically and have only won two of their last five game. But when it comes to the Champions League they often prove a very tough team to get past. Real Madrid on the other hand have been poor by their very high standards in the competition in recent seasons. They splashed the cash this summer and brought in some of the world's best, Ronaldo, Kaka & Xavi Alonso to mention just three. They come of the back of four straight wins in La Liga and have been in good scoring form. Think Real Madrid will win this one with all the attacking talent they have. Also fancy we could be in for a high-scoring game with neither team famous for its defending and with Cristiano Ronaldo about you always know he's capable of winning a game with an individual piece of magic.