Tottenham reaffirms CL ambitions

Soccer Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham took another step towards a top- four finish on Saturday as the club downed Blackburn, 3-1, at White Hart Lane behind two goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Jermain Defoe put Spurs in front right before halftime, and Pavlyuchenko doubled the lead 10 minutes after the break before a goal from Christopher Samba reduced the lead to one. However, Pavlyuchenko struck for the second time with five minutes to play to lock up all three points.

Tottenham leads fifth-placed Manchester City by three points, although City has two games in hand, while Blackburn is still 10 points clear of the relegation zone and appears to be relatively safe.

Rovers had to use up a substitution only 26 minutes into the game when goalkeeper Paul Robinson had to leave with a leg injury and was replaced by Jason Brown, who needed to be alert to keep out Benoit Assou-Ekotto's shot.

Brown was able to parry an effort from Defoe to keep the game scoreless, but the Spurs striker found the net shortly before the break when Vedran Corluka flicked a ball on to the far post for Defoe to finish off.

A counter-attack opportunity led to Tottenham doubling the lead after the break as Defoe laid a pass of to Pavlyuchenko for the Russian to fire home, while Gareth Bale had two penalty appeals turned down as the hosts tried to increase their lead.

Blackburn set up a tense finish 10 minutes from time when Samba headed home a corner kick from Morten Gamst Pedersen, but it took only five minutes for Pavlyuchenko to restore the two-goal edge when he got on the other end of a great low cross from Bale to score from a few yards out.

Chelsea returned to the top of the Premiership table with a 4-1 win over West Ham as Didier Drogba scored twice, while Arsenal snuck past 10-man Hull City, 2-1, with a stoppage-time winner from Nicklas Bendtner.

Birmingham and Everton played to a 2-2 draw at St. Andrews, Bolton thrashed Wigan, 4-0, Aston Villa was held to a 0-0 draw by Stoke City and Wolverhampton grabbed three vital points with a 2-1 triumph at Turf Moor over Burnley.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.