Some games of football take on added significance due to events off the football pitch. Think of Iran taking on the U.S.A. at the World Cup in 1998, which was dubbed the “most politically charged game in World Cup history” at the time. Politics of a different sort are the backdrop for one of the Champions League game this midweek, but just like last week, when we tipped Borussia Dortmund to beat Paris St. Germain 2-1 at odds of 10/1, there is value to be had.

Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich (Tuesday, 8pm GMT kick-off)

An intriguing clash at Stamford Bridge sees the West London outfit head into the game as distinct outsiders to progress in the tie. While Frank Lampard’s side sit in 4th place in the Premier League, they have lost nine times in a league season, which with 11 games still to play, does not bode well for the visit of the Bundesliga leaders, who have scored 65 goals in their 23 league games to date.

In Robert Lewandowski, Munich have the sort of striker that Chelsea have coveted since the first retirement of Didier Drogba. Strong as an ox, deft of touch and clinical to a fault, the Polish poacher is the man they will watch for. But in Serge Gnabry, Munich also have a very talented second striker, and we think he can shadow behind Lewandowski to devastating effect.

Now that March is fast approaching, expect to hear the term “bubble team” plenty regarding those schools who are iffy for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Most bubble teams aren’t good enough to win their conference tournament and earn an automatic bid.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

One such school is Mississippi State and the Bulldogs absolutely can’t afford to lose Tuesday night at home in SEC play against a mediocre-at-best Alabama team. MSU is a 3.5-point favorite. Mississippi State doesn’t have a very good resume in that it hasn’t beaten a ranked team and played a very weak non-conference schedule other than a loss to Villanova.

The Bulldogs also are playing for a possible top-four finish in the SEC and a double-bye in the conference tournament. Alabama is one of the highest-scoring teams in the country under first-year coach Nate Oats but are lousy on defense usually. The Tide routed visiting Mississippi State 90-69 on January 8. With the Bulldogs up 28-27, Bama ended the first half on a 15-6 run and never looked back. The Tide are 9-3 ATS in the past 12 meetings.

UK bookmaker William Hill is ending its long sponsorship ties to Scottish football while embracing mixed martial arts.

On Friday, UK media reported that William Hill had decided to end its nine-year sponsorship of the Scottish Football Association’s Scottish Cup when the current season wraps up this May. The bookie’s sponsorship efforts generated over £9m in revenue for the league since 2012 but the hunt is now on for a new title sponsor.

The parties’ decision not to renew was reportedly influenced by Hamilton Academical manager Brian Rice’s recent confession to breaching the SFA’s zero-tolerance gambling policy, for which Rice received a 10-match suspension. Regardless of the negative publicity that confession generated, the betting sector is in what could be considered a full retreat from UK and Irish football ties.

Just to name a few recent examples, English Premier League side Everton FC and the Football Association of Ireland both kicked Kenyan betting operator SportPesa to the curb before their deals were through, and 2020 started with a proper tempest in a teapot over betting operators’ livestreaming English Football Association matches over their betting apps.

The pivotal result of the weekend may have been higher up and solved nothing other than which team finishes as runner-up in the Premier League, but elsewhere there were big calls up and down the country.

Bournemouth played very well at Turf Moor but were on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat that will worry fans of The Cherries who fear that their team’s soft centres instead of the stones they need to survive in the Premier League might send them down.

Elsewhere, there were massive victories for Crystal Palace and Southampton as they made big moves away from the relegation zone, while Sheffield United were held to a draw at Bramall Lane by strugglers Brighton.

Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers both did their European chances no harm at all as they recorded regulation wins over Watford and Norwich City respectively to keep both away teams in relegation trouble.

After an unsuccessful attempt to claim the Australian Open title in January, Roger Federer has announced that he is to have knee surgery that will rule him out of the French Open and clay court season in full.

The Swiss legend, who currently holds the most Grand Slam victories in history, with 20 titles, will miss not just the French Open at Roland Garros, but the whole clay court season. While it is due to an injury, the obviously ulterior motive is Federer bidding to end the season in spectacular fashion and claim one of the two remaining hard-court Slams on offer in 2020.

Federer made the announcement on Twitter as he ruled himself out of Glam Slam competition until June at the earliest.

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