Sports betting: Blackburn to be held

DISMAL LOSERS 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, Blackburn have no business whatsoever being odds-on to beat Lyons in their first- round, first leg Uefa Cup tie at Ewood Park tomorrow night.

Whereas Blackburn have slipped to 18th place in the Premiership, Lyons lie second in the French League following their 2-1 victory over Sochaux on Saturday. Lyons are capable of winning this tie, but will be more than content to return home with a draw.

The Premiership leaders Aston Villa should overwhelm the Norwegians Stromsgodset, who lost 4-0 at Stabaek on Saturday; Liverpool will be quite content to come home with a draw draw after their visit to Kosice and Leeds are fancied to contain the moderate Maritimo of the Portugese league, who produced nothing to write home about when drawing 1-1 at Braga at the weekend.

On Wednesday, Manchester United can lay low Barcelona in their Champions' League tie at Old Trafford. United look to have a much more potent strike force since they recruited Dwight Yorke and need not fear from La Liga champions Barcelona, who lost some key players during the close season and made heavy weather of beating Extremadura 1-0 at home on Saturday night.

Arsenal are fancied to emerge with a draw from their visit to Lens, who went down 2-0 to Monaco on Friday.

Club C H L S

Aston Villa 1-3 2-7 4-11 2-7

Draw 10-3 10-3 11-4 7-2

Stromsgodset 6-1 8-1 7-1 7-1

Blackburn 10-11 8-11 10-11 4-5

Draw 9-4 12-5 9-4 9-4

Lyons 12-5 3-1 12-5 11-4

Kosice 3-1 11-4 7-2 3-1

Draw 12-5 9-4 9-4 11-5

Liverpool 8-11 4-5 4-6 4-5

Leeds 4-9 2-5 2-5 4-11

Draw 5-2 11-4 11-4 3-1

Maritimo 6-1 6-1 6-1 6-1

Man Utd 6-5 5-4 6-5 6-5

Draw 9-4 2-1 11-5 2-1

Barcelona 7-4 15-8 9-5 2-1

Lens 7-4 6-4 7-4 13-8

Draw 11-5 2-1 11-5 15-8

Arsenal 5-4 8-5 5-4 6-4

C Coral, H William Hill, L Ladbrokes, S Stanley