VALENCIA
Stoke boss Tony Pulis left a number of first-team stars behind in England for the Potters' make-or-break Europa League second-leg clash against Valencia at the Mestalla tomorrow.
A combination of injury and fatigue prompted Pulis to bring only 15 players to Spain, with Ryan Shawcross, Glenn Whelan, Marc Wilson, Dean Whitehead, Matthew Etherington, Jon Walters and Peter Crouch among those who did not travel.
Robert Huth, who is serving a three-match ban in domestic football, is expected to play as Stoke attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit from last week's first leg at the Britannia Stadium, while youngster Lucas Dawson will be among the substitutes.
Provisional squad: Begovic, Sorensen, Huth, Collins, Shotton, Woodgate, Diao, Pennant, Delap, Arismendi, Palacios, Dawson, Jones, Fuller, Jerome
i think stoke not take this serious anymore....
valencia had plenty quality player ...no matter who emery pick for this match ..... i feeling on valencia -1
BOLOGNA - FIORENTINA DRAW @ 3.16
Bologna are unbeaten since New year ,taking 10pts. from last 6 matches which give them 4pts. advance from relegation zone with two matches in hand .This fact for sure will give more confidential to Pioli's men and feed them with fresh power for next hard matches in relegation avoiding fight .Today they host team of Fiorentina ,who record 2-2-2 in last 6 games and it seems that from now coach Rossi should look more to keep team in middle as they are just 3 pts. above his opponent today and too far from Euroleague spots .
H2H last game in Septenber Fiorentina won 2-0 ,but current form and fact that 3 of last 6 meetings was drawn make for me preferable : Draw .Good luck to all !
CELTIC AH -1.50 AT ODDS 2.10
Celtic comes at Easter Road Stadium to collect all 3 points. Celtic is currently in a winning streak and with the recent 10 points penalty for Glasgow Rangers due to a federal decision, all things seems to be perfect for "The Bhoys". Celtic is the perfect candidate for winning Scottish Premier League title this year and that dream seems to become reality as they are currently 14 points in front of their rival Glasgow Rangers. They won last 7 matches in tranfer and 5 of them were at AH -1.50:
Motherwell 1 - 2 Celtic
Inverness 0 - 2 Celtic
Dundee Utd 0 - 1 Celtic
St. Johnstone 0 - 2 Celtic
Dunfermline 0 - 3 Celtic
St. Mirren 0 - 2 Celtic
Hearts 0 - 4 Celtic
We see that those 2 matches in transfer they didn't concede to win at AH were against Motherwell 3rd in SPL and Dundee United 6th, but these teams have a good defence (Motherwell and Dundee United conceded 13 goals in 12 home matches). At home, Hibernian have an awful record 1-5-7 and conceded 21 goals in 13 matches, only Dunfermline is weaker (0-5-8 and conceded 36 goals in 13 matches). Hibernian lost at home 0-2 against Rangers and 1-3 against Hearts, 4th in SPL and considering this, they really have no hopes from this match because Celtic surpasses them. Celtic will demolish them due to their attacking power and with captain Scott Brown (a former Hibernian player) in a good form they really can score from distance. Celtic is way better than the last season but we must be realistic and admit that Rangers were dissapointing lastly, especially last match in transfer against Dunfermline where they played bad and only McCulloch's genius got them all 3 points.
Hibernian welcome back Leigh Griffiths, Paul Hanlon and James McPake from suspension.
On-loan Stoke midfielder Tom Soares is progressing following a hamstring strain but is more likely to return against Motherwell next Wednesday.
Left-back Callum Booth (Achilles) joins winger Danny Galbraith (groin) and Ian Murray (hip) on the sidelines.
Thomas Rogne is back in the Celtic squad after recovering from a calf injury, while stopper Daniel Majstorovic will be available after winning his appeal against the sending off against Inverness last week.
Defender Mikael Lustig is back in training after recovering from a hip injury but will not be involved. Even under these circumstances there is no chance for Pat Fenlon's boys to get something in this match considering Celtic must continue their winning streak and avoid to depend at play-off's matches.