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.

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.

pic.twitter.com/VVGI1o8XYZ

The National Football League’s once vehemently anti-betting stance is slowly being brushed aside like so much dandruff off Roger Goodell’s navy blue blazer.

On Friday, Sports Business Daily reported that the NFL’s Sports Betting Committee — honestly, it seems weird just reading that — had informed teams that they were now free to enter into individual sponsorships with US-licensed sports betting operators.

The NFL previously allowed teams to enter into sponsorships with companies engaged in sports betting provided the relationship wasn’t explicitly betting-focused. The NFL itself named Caesars Entertainment its Official Casino Sponsor, despite the ubiquity of sportsbooks at Caesars’ Nevada properties.

Last September, the NFL signed DraftKings as its first Daily Fantasy Sports Partner, even as the company was becoming far better known as a sportsbook operator. The NFL even signed its first official wagering partner, although it chose Australia’s Tabcorp, presumably due to the lack of domestic attention such a deal would garner.

With Liverpool running away with the title and Norwich city looking increasingly doomed, the remainder of the English Premier League season looks to be focused on two specific areas of flux within the league table.

Firstly, there are the Champions League places to sort out. Traditionally, the top four teams in each season’s English Premier League qualify for the Champions League next season. However, with UEFA threatening expulsion from Europe in its entirety for Manchester City due to their breaking of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, it could be that fifth place qualifies that team for Europe’s greatest club competition. While the question of why it should be another British team when a club from the EPL has broken the rules is anyone’s guess, but it’s looking likely and that brings other clubs into contention for qualification.

Secondly, relegation from the EPL will hit three teams very hard and while Norwich look doomed, sitting as they are seven points from safety with only 12 games remaining, there are three points separating the five teams above them. Any two of those five teams could drop, with the financial, structural and emotional impact of relegation looming large over those teams at this time. Let’s take a look as some teams who will be looking to keep their heads above water or aim for the top five.

Chelsea vs. Tottenham Hotspur (Saturday 22nd February, 12.30pm GMT kick-off)           

President Donald Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of several convicted felons, including former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr.

DeBartolo pleaded guilty in 1998 to gambling fraud charges following a Louisiana investigation. He stepped down from his position as head of the 49ers operations when two Louisiana newspapers reported that he would be indicted on gambling fraud.

DeBartolo was charged with failing to report a felony when he paid $400,000 to former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards in exchange for a riverboat gambling license. DeBartolo was not sentenced to prison, but was fined $1 million and was suspended by the NFL for a year. When the suspension ended he turned over operations to his sister, Denise DeBartolo York. The team is currently run by his nephew, John York.

On hand for the pardon ceremony were several former San Francisco 49ers players, including Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott, as well as Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown.

Four games took part in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 this midweek, with both English sides losing by a single goal.

Liverpool, last season’s winners, got off to a terrible start at the ground where they made history just nine months ago, conceding to Atletico after just four minutes to a Saul Niguez opener. Despite plenty of effort, Klopp’s team could not break down their opponents’ stubborn resistance, however, and will need their famous Anfield atmosphere to be their 12th man when the second leg takes place. Diego Simeone’s side have never lost a knockout Champions League tie at home while he has been manager, and they will be a threat on the break when Liverpool seek to repair the damage of this 1-0 first leg defeat in order to progress.

Borussia Dortmund took a while to get going, but eventually scored a narrow 2-1 victory over Paris St. Germain after two goals from Erling Haaland either side of what coud yet be a vital Neymar strike gave the German side a slight advantage to head to the French capital with. Haaland scored two goals to make it 11 goals in just seven games for his new side, and Dormund will fancy their chances on the break against a leggy PSG side who constantly look to be disappointing the former Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel on the sidelines.

Tottenham Hotspur were defeated 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as RB Leipzig scored a second half penalty through Timo Werner. In truth, Spurs, while they looked to miss the attacking edge of Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane, their world class forwards, looked dangerous on the break and decent in the attacking third of the pitch. At the back, however, they were eventually unpicked and while Ben Davies has been consistent most of the season, even leading to the loan sale of Danny Rose to Newcastle, he was at fault – and booked – in the penalty incident. Spurs -and Mourinho – have it all to do to prevent a fairly ignoble defeat in Germany in a few weeks time.

After a frustrating 12 months on the ATP Tour, Britain’s Kyle Edmund took home the title at the New York Open and in doing so won $120,635 and perhaps more crucially, 250 FedEx ATP Rankings points that put him firmly back in the upper ATP rankings as Britain’s best male tennis player.

At 25-years-old, Edmund is ranked as the 45th best men’s tennis player in the world and he certainly earned his first ATP Tour title in 16 months, the Bahamas-based Brit beating Italian player Andreas Seppi in the final.

While the first set was an even affair decided by a late break and gutsy hold that saw Edmund take it 7-5, his dominance over the latter stages of Sunday’s contest saw him win eight of the last nine games as the 98-seeded Seppi was simply blown away by the power and precision of Edmund’s groundstrokes.

For Seppi, the defeat marks another setback, and in particular against Edmund, who he has a dreadful record against, winning just one of the six games they have shared.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee unveiled its in-season Top 16 overall seeds for the 2020 Big Dance, although there obviously will be plenty of change by Selection Sunday on March 15. The East Region No. 1 was San Diego State of the Mountain West, so perhaps oddsmakers will start taking the Aztecs seriously as they are also the only unbeaten team in the country.

SDSU’s best basketball alum is current Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, and the best team in school history was surely Leonard’s 2010-11 squad that finished 34-3 but lost in the regional semifinal to Connecticut. San Diego State has never reached a Final Four and didn’t even get an NCAA Tournament bid a year ago. It is +1400 to win the national championship.

Quite possible the Aztecs reach the Big Dance without a loss as they are clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the Mountain West, already clinching the regular-season title and winning their two toughest road tests at UNLV and New Mexico. At Boise State on Sunday could be tough, though, as likely will be February 29 at Nevada ahead of the Mountain West Tournament.

Football and poker go together like the tackle and the shin pad, like the through-ball and the dinked finish, like Tim Sherwood and memes. Often, when players have finished playing the most popular sport in the world for a living, they need something to replace the adrenaline rush that they’ve only ever felt when they score a goal.

That is where poker comes in. The rush of winning a big pot, the buzz of lifting a trophy, the strategy, mental training, atmosphere at the table and camaraderie outside the action – it’s a potent cocktail. Like Paul Gascoigne in 1996, footballers can’t help imbibing themselves of that cocktail.

The first of our three-part series looks at five British players who’ve swapped football boots for three-bets. They took one look at the biggest poker tournaments in the world and thought ‘I’ve played in the Champions League final – and I’m all-in!’

Teddy Sheringham

This week’s second half of the midwinter break fixtures in the Premier League see some fantastic fixtures, all of which look set to go ahead, as opposed to last week’s postponement of Manchester City vs. West Ham United.

Southampton and Burnley play out what should turn out to be a dead rubber by the end of the season, and Liverpool will likely canter to yet another victory at Carrow Road as the already-doomed Norwich City attempt the greatest escape since Steve McQueen took off on his motorbike. Aston Villa host Tottenham Hotspur in a game that is important for both relegation and Champions League place reasons. Those matches are, however, unlikely, to yield many shocks, but the three we’re previewing in detail very well might.

Wolves vs. Leicester (Friday 14th February, 8:00 pm GMT kick-off)

With these players having returned from their midwinter break, Friday’s night fayre is unlikely to get better than this game all season. We’re not joking – this could be one of the games of the Premier League season. It’s all set up for a classic.