Football Matchups for the Evening of September 9th

Tonight the atmosphere starts to warm up for a weekend of action that is again packed with football all across Europe. On the menu for Friday we have the eagerly anticipated start of Serie A, and a match in 5th round of the Bundesliga. Several other smaller leagues are playing tonight as well with some fairly decent odds offered by the bookies.

Milan vs. Lacio

Milan has shown in the Italian Super-Cup against Inter that this year’s goal is for them to be the dominant side in Italy and Europe alike. They dominated an Inter team in their 2:1 win in Beijing wig goals from Ibrahimovic and recently acquired Boateng. AC Milan has also added Aquilani from Liverpool on loan right before the end of the transfer window. Lazio is also a strong side with some nice additions in this off season which included D. Cisse from Panathinaikos, who scored a solid 24 goals last year for the Greek side, and the German striker Klose who will be looking to prove that Germans can play in Serie A. Both of them should compensate nicely for the absence of last year best scorer Floccari who is on loan to Parma. International Bosnian Lulic has also been added from Young Boys to bolster the Lazio midfield. Looking at their recent results both teams are in good form as Lazio eased through their European League tie against Rabotnicki to secure European fall action.

Milan is a better team playing at home and although Lazio’s ambitions are high this year we don’t think that they will be able to pull off a shocker in the opener. So AC Milan to win 1,53 seems like a pretty solid bet tonight along with the real possibility of both teams scoring which pays an impressive 1,90 tonight. Remember, both teams are playing well, Lazio is packed with offensive power, so this bet looks like a winner tonight in this encounter.

King's pick: Both teams to score – 1,90

FC Augsburg vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer is a favorite here as they have shown that they will be the team to beat this year with couple of wins already and holding the reigning champions Borussia Dortmund 0:0 at home in the last round. Their attackers have not yet had a good day scoring only once so far in the Bundesliga. Perhaps that will change tonight as they play new comers Augsburg who are winless this season having lost their last two.

Bayer win pays 1,73 and this is probably right. There will be some resistance by the hosts, but not enough to hold Bayer, who will look to go into their meeting with Chelsea next week full of optimism.

King's picks: Bayer to Win – 1,73; S. Kiessling to score any time – 2,40

NK Lokomotiva vs. Zagreb

In the Croatian league Lokomotiva hosts Zagreb. Both teams are in the middle of the pack and expect the result tonight to be more of a tie than anything else. This will be a high scoring affair as well, so 4 goals or more should also do the trick on this one.

King's pick: a tie – 3,30; More than three goals - 2,40

Shamrock Rovers vs. Sligo Rovers

The Irish are playing tonight and we have a matchup of two premier teams in the Irish Premier League, Shamrock Rovers vs. Sligo Rovers. Shamrock is on a roll having won four of their last five while securing a place in a UEFA Europa League. Huge for them! Sligo Rovers have not been so convincing with only two wins out of their last five. These two teams are battling it out for the title, so this should be an entertaining one, however we give an edge to Shamrock to win tonight by a score of 2:0.

King's pick: Shamrock rovers Handicap 0:1