Liverpool take on Manchester City tonight in the second leg of their League Cup semi-final. It looks one of those games where you can’t pick a winner, unfortunately for me that’s the case for most games.

Liverpool go into the game with a 1-0 advantage and don’t have to win tonight to go through to the final, based on the Reds recent results it is just as well.

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Mention Wembley to Cardiff City supporters and they begin to choke, incidentally so do the players.

Cardiff’s ‘Nearly’ Men have slipped up in the Championship play-offs to Reading and Blackpool in the last two campaigns, and missed out completely on the final day of the season three years ago.

The weight of expectation will be hanging over the Bluebirds as they take on Crystal Palace in the second leg of their League cup semi-final, and despite their recent failures which include an F.A cup final defeat to Portsmouth four years ago, the bookmakers are making Cardiff ‘odds on favourites’ to win in 90 minutes.

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Looking at the Champions league qualifying round draw is like a bad game of scrabble – It would be game over if you got Shkendija Tetovo on a triple word score.

This evening sees the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Champions League with some of the more recognisable names entering the fray.

Take Rubin Kazan (15/4), Sturm Graz (11/10) and BATE Borisov (4/7) all away at Dynamo Kiev, FC Zestafoni and FK Ekranas respectively. The treble pays at around 15/1 with Paddypower.

If there is one thing I love about South American football it is that most of the players are smaller than me. Take Lionel Messi who stands at 5ft 9in, he’s 5ft 6in without heels.
 
An absolutely incredible few days in the Copa America saw all four favourites to win their quarter-final matches dumped out of the competition, including hosts Argentina, holders Brazil and the only recent winners besides the Selecao, Colombia.
 
The competition has hardily been the feast of football that we would come to expect from the South Americans so far, with low scoring games and star players failing to ignite the stage.
 
With the big guns eliminated, it is now an open field with any of the semi-fianlists capable of lifting the Copa America crown.
 
Uruguay have been installed as 8/11 favourites with PaddyPower after beating the the host nation and favourites Argentina in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw on Saturday, though the fact that The Charrúa’s have won just one of their four games in 90 minutes suggests that they are far from nailed on.
 
Uruguay take on Peru next having already failed to beat them once in the group stage of the competition. ranked as 10/1 outsiders, Peru are the only side left to have tasted defeat and are unlikely to pose too much of a threat.  
 
Paraguay and Venezuela make up the other semi-final. Paraguay, having achieved the impressive feat of getting to the semi-finals without claiming a single victory, are 5/2 second favourites after taking care of Brazil, but their goalscoring record so far in the competition will make it difficult to see how they will even get past the suprise package of the tournament Venezuela.
 
Have never got this far before in their existence, Venezuela have to be considered the most surprising survivors having only made it to the knockout rounds once before on home soil four years ago.
 
The former minnows were the only side to prevail in normal time, overcoming Chile, who were looking like serious challengers for the title after Argentina and Brazil’s exits. They are ranked at 10/1 to deliver two more shocks and win the tropy, but that feat is unlikely.
 
The best bet is to stick with the quality and with the side who are proven at this stage of the competition, Uruguay at 8/11 can’t be ignored in that case.

The greatest fear for Lee Westwood is waking up of a morning, looking in to the mirror and realising that he is turning into Colin Montgomerie.

I’m not talking about having a wardrobe with a vast array of figure hugging jumpers or developing a weird patronising voice.

The real worry for Westwood is that his legacy, much like Monty’s, will be that of an also-ran having had an illustrious career without winning one of golfs elite prizes.

The world number two will tee-up to compete for his 54th major on Thursday having never won in any of the previous 53 that he has competed. Westwood epitomises the ‘nearly man’ with six top-three finishes at Major championships in the last three years alone, including a third and a second in the last two years of this event.

It is a staggering record from the Worksop Wonder who is considered a Links golf specialist and likely to be in amongst the contenders this weekend at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich.  

Westwood has been in majestic form of late. In his last five tournaments on the European Tour he has recorded a win, a play-off defeat to Luke Donald at the prestigious BMW PGA Championship, and a third place finish at the US Open; meaning that the 14/1 on offer with William Hill shouldn’t be overlooked.  

The usual suspects are likely to give a strong challenge, but it can not be denied that some big outsiders have won the Open in recent years. David Duval, Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton all won The Open within a four-year period between 2001 and 2004 with the trio failing build on their triumphs since then.  

Teenage Italian starlet, Matteo Manassero, is a huge talent with a fantastic attitude and maturity. He has already made giant strides in the game, winning two events on the European Tour within 12 months of turning professional, and his form in recent months has been more than good enough to suggest he’ll go well this week.
 
The difficulty and unpredictabillity of the Links course may hamper Manassero’s Championship bid, but a generous 6/1 with Totesport for a top 10 finish is worth a punt just for the lads potential.
 
Smarterbets 2011 Open Championship Tips -
 
Lee Westwood outright winner 14/1 (William Hill)
Sergio Garcia Top Ten Finish 3/1 (Totesport)
Matteo Manassero Top Ten Finish 6/1 (Totesport)
Rickie Fowler Top American 25/1 (Totesport)
 

14 time Copa America Champions Uruguay kick off their campaign this evening against tournament underdogs Peru at the Estadio del Bicentenario.

Uruguay progressed the furthest out of all their South American counterparts at last summers World Cup and they have gone from strength to strength since making them 6/1 third favourites for this years Copa America.

Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani, Diego Forlan and Diego Lugano are all in top form for their opening fixture against the Peruvians and the betting only points to one result.

Uruguay are 4/9 with Boylesports to win their group opener, but for more value for your money take Uruguay half time/full time at 11/10 with Boylesports.

This weekends heavyweight contest Between David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko has been billed as the most eagerly anticipated fight in recent years, and the tension couldn’t be greater unless you put a KFC bucket between Susan Boyle and Rick Waller.

After seemingly endless amounts of trash talk, Haye and Klitschko finally go head to head this Saturday at the Imtech Arena in Germany where the IBF, WBO, IBO and WBA will be unified.

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The Evil Libyan Dictator Colonel Gaddafi is not exactly Mr. Popular, but even he would shudder at the reception Alex McLeish has received in the Midlands since joining Aston Villa.

Three weeks After watching his side slip out of the Barclay’s Premier League in gut-wrenching fashion after a late defeat by Tottenham at White Hart Lane, McLeish done the unthinkable by switching to Villa Park, a move which has angered both sides of the second city.

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Ivan Ljubicic will be determined to make the most of his Centre Court debut when he faces Andy Murray in the third round at Wimbledon Today.
 
The Croatian has underachieved at the All England Club in the past having never made the second week of the tournament, but the 32-year-old’s victories in the first two rounds over Marin Cilic and Sergiy Stakhovsky can be considered minor upsets.
 
Murray and Ljubicic have a 3-3 career record against each other, with the Scot having won two of their last three meetings but falling in last year’s most recent match-up in Beijing in straight sets.
 
This is likely to be a far sterner test for Murray compared to his first two matches of this years competition, so take the 11/2 offered by SkyBet that the match goes the distance and lasts five sets.