Who is first choice at United?

The question on many Manchester United fans’ lips right now will be just who is the club’s first choice goalkeeper.

Supporters of the club will know that the side have a tough time replacing legendary stopper Peter Schmeichel when he retired and after a number of stopgaps but never really found anyone to match him until Edwin Van Der Sar joined.

However, he hung up his boots last season and it seems Sir Alex Ferguson is once again struggling to find the right man to go between the sticks. People following the best online Premier League odds should remember this.

Much was made of the arrival of David de Gea from Athletico Madrid and given Sir Alex splashed out almost £20 million for the young keeper it was expected he would be the first choice.

And so it was that De Gea found himself starting in the Premier League, but his career has not got off to the best of starts.

Although he made a number of excellent saves, he has also proven to be error prone and those mistakes have cost Manchester United goals and even more importantly with point.

The manager has seemed reluctant to drop the young keeper too quickly, no doubt partly because of the huge transfer fee he paid and the fact he does not want to damage the stopper’s confidence.

However, it increasingly seems that Ferguson’s thoughts are turning to Andres Lindegaard, who joined the club from Aalesund during the January 2011 transfer window.

Expectations were lower, not least because he cost less and does not have as much experience as his Spanish counterpart, but now he has a chance to steal away the number one spot.

Champions League or bust for Chelsea

Chelsea’s season appears to be dangling by a thread after this week’s Carling Cup quarter-final defeat, with manager Andre Villas-Boas admitting the Champions League has now become “life or death” for the club. The under-fire tactician saw his young Chelsea side suffer a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, further damaging the club’s poor first half of the season.

With it looking like the Premiership title is now beyond Chelsea’s grasp and the trophy staying in Manchester, the Champions League and the FA Cup will be the only chance for Villas-Boas to pick up some silverware from this campaign. People following the best Champions League odds online will know this.

The former Porto head coach has admitted his side will need to play a lot better in the Champions League than the sort of performances they have been producing in recent weeks. Villas-Boas also made it clear Europe this season has now taken on a whole new significance following the shocking run Chelsea have been on recently.
“The Champions League is a competition that is life and death and this standard won’t be enough,” he said.

“We will need to up the tempo and play that game with the ultimate desire.”

The Londoners will welcome Valencia to Stamford Bridge in their make or break final Group E tie. If the pressure wasn’t already on the young Portuguese manager, then it will certainly be on him if Chelsea fail to secure their place in the next round of the Champions League.