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Rio Ave is the first team of the relegation group, so they depend only on themselves to stay on main league. I believe the point that escaped them last weekend, when they suffered a goal on the 88th minute against desperate Belenenses, will come tomorrow when they meet Estrela in a game that has been prepared carefully by coach Brito and where all associates and fans of Rio Ave may have free entrance to celebrate the team's staying on the first division.

Estrela da Amadora made a sensational season but the team's survival is, once again, being called to debate with several appeals being made in order to save the club. This week they were punished with the loss of 3 points for not paying their debts and just yesterday Anselmo, one of the main stars of the team, decided to part company (alleging just cause) tired of 10 months with no salary. Similar acts from other players are expected next week.

This is, i'll say it again, a brave group of professionals that surely deserve all the best in a near future and most of them are already looking for another team. Reunions have been made and only the help of the players union minorized the agony of this team but the president of the Union already declared he sees no light at the end of the tunnel for Estrela, and so this might be the final 90 minutes if they don't pay their debts.

In terms of form, Rio Ave achieved its peak these last five rounds with a L-D-W-W-W never seen before this season. Estrela has two wins, two defeats and one draw in the last 5 championship games. These are two teams that usually score their points at home and both of them are poor travellers and, in this case, Rio Ave has the advantage.

I predict a home win even because Estrela comes, again, with important absences : apart that of Anselmo, André Coelho(defender), Vidigal(midfield), Ndiaye(defender), Rui Varela(striker) and g/k Nélson are out and all the others will play (and probably pray) for the end of this tormented season. On Rio Ave all players are ready for the game.

Great value bet in the last round, Cottbus become the favorite is a joke for me, everyone talking the motivation different, Cottbus fighting for their life at home, Leverkusen look like playing for nothing and also has a DFB-Pokal final waiting for them. But Leverkusen coach Labbadia said that he will put everything in this game, they still need a win to make Bayer 04 become the number one away team in the Bundesliga this season. They wil fight for win today!

Leverkusen on good form and great mood at that moment, just beaten Gladbach 5:0 to take their first home win in their LTU-Arena, they also welcome back their spirit leader Bernd Schneider after more than a year on the sidelines, captain Simon Rolfes returns to the starting elevens after an ankle injury to face one of his favorite opponents (he already scored four goals against Cottbus). Their most importance absence is midfielder Kroos, who on international duty with Germany U19s.

Cottbus struggle in the relegation fight whole season, after their last home game lost to Gladbach in injured time, they already destined for relegate in my eyes, they are unlucky but also really poor, the team spirit seems to be bad, they become discouraged, also between the coach Prasnikar and the team kinda tense atmosphere.

Cottbus become toothless now, their best three strikers Rangelov, Iliev and Jelic all will absence because injuries, that mean they already lose more than 50% attack power, their only striker Jula really mediocre and out of form, only scored two goals in the whole season, his partner Chinese attacker Shao also on bad form, both of them played a very bad game against Stuttgart last Saturday, but Prasnikar already no other choice at that moment, I can`t see they can score against Adler, and because they need to win and will try to attack, Leverkusen attack line will get enough space and chance in this game.

Match between two teams who played matches with many goals in the past. Last year Viking won 4:1 and surely Stabaek will want revenge for this hard defeat. Viking want to keep the chances for the top of the table even it's still early for making maths here but they are on sixth place , 8 points behind first placed team of Rosenborg . On the other hand Stabaek players will go into this match full of confidence after great won last week against Sandefjord and they will try to find the form they like it and I am sure they will be more competitive team as IMO they have quality players in the squad. So I expect battle between two motivated teams and I am sure both teams will play to win here . In my opinion we will see open match and I hope full of goals ..

The Angels were swept in Texas over the weekend which halted a very solid run of 12-4 in their previous 16 games leading up to that three-game series. The Rangers are playing great right now so the sweep cannot be considered all that surprising. Los Angeles now gets to face a team that is going the opposite directions. Despite a series win against the Red Sox, the Mariners have cooled off considerably following a very hot start. Seattle is just 6-14 over its last 20 games and it has not won back-to-back games since April 24th and 25th as it has gone 0-6 in its last six games following a victory. The Angels send John Lackey to the hill who will be making his first start of the season. He did toss two pitches on Saturday before getting ejected for throwing at Ian Kinsler but that certainly does not constitute a real start. Lackey had spent six weeks recovering from a strained right forearm before making a couple rehab stats prior to getting back with the big club. He is 10-8 in his career against the Mariners with a 3.90 ERA in 22 starts and he is 7-5 at Safeco Field with a 2.79 ERA in 13 starts. He did not face the Mariners last season and that actually helps his situation here. He faces off against Jarrod Washburn who has been solid for the most part in the early part of the season. He has a very good 3.11 ERA and 1.14 WHIP though seven starts but the Mariners are just 3-4 in those games. Seattle is averaging 3.6 rpg so that is part of the problem for a lack of wins. His worst start this season came against the Angels which was no surprise as he has struggled against his former club. He is 5-6 with a 4.62 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in 12 starts including allowing six runs in 5.1 innings back on April 26th. The Angels are 24-8 in Lackey’s last 32 road starts against a team with a losing record while the Mariners are 5-14 in Washburn’s last 19 home starts. The Angels are 6-0 in Lackey’s last six starts against the Mariners and they have won eight of the last 11 meetings in Seattle.
I take LA Angels win with handicap.

Partizan is by far the best team in the South-Eastern Europe, they won Adriatic league beating all other Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Slovenian teams... At the same time, they were very near qualifying into Euroleague FF, and would've probably done it if CSKA wasn't on their way. Now, they have the opportunity to win the eight 8th Serbian Superliga title in a row. Leading 2-0 in the series against their biggest rivals Crvena Zvezda, playing in the home arena (hard to say it's home as Zvezda also play there, but Partizan's fans will be there as they're officially the hosts) and this match will be a true celebration. Full house, Partizan's players surely very motivated and for many of them it will be their last match for this team as they will all get sold, like Tepic, Velickovic, Lasme for sure... Tripkovic and Rakocevic very likely, too. So they will surely play even better that they did in the first two games when they both times won by double digits.

Zvezda, on the other hand, have many absences tonight and their squad will be in even worse condition than it was a few days ago when they lost by 14. Beside already injured Owens and Kovac, now they will be missing Bakic and Keselj, and knowing that another American Roberts is wearing a face mask and is totally under weather, I just don't know how will this short rotation manage to do any damage to cohesive Partizan's squad.

Why not a bigger handicap then? Well, the rivalry has always been huge, but the bookies rely on it way too much here, as the realistic hcp. should be around 15 pts, and the "heart and desire" of Zvezda's players will NOT make up for their huge absences and lack of quality.

This is my last pick for POD this month and I am not gonna be chasing some huge odds or anything, just want to give you the winner. I hope it delivers.

This will be very exciting game performend by two very good team, in form teams and most important - very offensive playing teams. Both are fighting for huge stake - which is CL line. Valencia is just 1p in front of Athletico, but today Madrid team will be home playing and will have small advantage.

However - games like this one - IMO have no favourite, since both will fight and play an open game. My pick goes to over 3,5 because:

1. Both are in form - last 5 streak: Atletico WWWLW , Valencia WLDWW
2. Both are very "over" teams: Athletico 65% (76% home) overs 2,5 (6 out of 7 last) Valencia 68% over 2,5 ( 7 out of 7 last)
3. Both prefer offensive play, than defensive - it means they don't care if they will lose many goals - its important to score more than lose - just this counts. Athletico scored 72 and lost 56 in 35 games Valencia scored 65 and lost 50 in 35 games.

Ok I know - these are just stats, taken from net. However is means very much about the mentality of these teams. If two top teams meets in Primiera Division - playing for huge stake, very offensive teams - It cannot finish 0-0 after good defense style (like Chelsea for example). It always means many goal situations, many corners, many shots and ... many goals. It is one of the most important game for both.

Valencia will miss couple of important players like Silva, Marchena, Vicente or Joaquin - while Athletico is full ready.

Anyway - over for this game is very good choice.

I'm writing this preview for the 3rd time already so it will be a bit shorter than usual.
Dinamo will be crowned as the new old champion today, if they win, ofc. The way they demolished Hajduk in midweeks cup finals and before that Rijeka, Šibenik and Varteks is very impressive and although i'm always criticising them, no doubt that this team will become one of the strongest in clubs history in next 2-3 years.
Slaven already secured their EL spot so we could say they have nothing to play for except pride. They are known for years as a poor away team, scored only 8 goals on away games this season and i dont expect them to score today too(took it at unibet, 2.45). Also, most important thing is the missing of their two key players, Vručina(top scorer) and Posavec(playmaker and set-pieces taker).
Stadium is sold out for the first time in years i think, city again is going mad about Dinamo and that all will give a huge boost of confidence to players. Dinamo will celebrate their title with convincing win, Slaven will try not to suffer a real disaster. Take -2.5 hcp if you find it.