The final round of Champions League group games take place this evening with the current champions of England, Manchester United, set to welcome the best side from Turkey, Besiktas, with online bookmakers overwhelmingly favouring the home team.
Manchester United is listed at odds of 3/10 to win tonight’s match by ExtraBet.com while punters can get 1/3 from ToteSport.com, SportingBet.com and Coral.co.uk on Sir Alex Ferguson’s men to triumph.
The Premiership team won the reverse fixture in September by a solitary goal and Expekt.com is going with odds of 6/17 for a ‘Red Devil’ victory followed by BoyleSports.com, PaddyPower.com, VictorChandler.com, SkyBet.com, StanJames.com, Ladbrokes.com and WilliamHill.com with 4/11.
Slightly longer, Betfair.com, WBX.com and BetDaq.com have Manchester United at odds of 19/50 to win followed by Bet365.com, BlueSq.com, BetFred.com and 888Sport.com with 2/5.
Besiktas are the reigning champions of Turkey but the team’s Champions League hopes have been over for quite some time. SportingBet.com, ExtraBet.com and ToteSport.com have Mustafa Denizli’s side at odds of 7/1 to win this evening followed by Bet365.com, BetFred.com, BlueSq.com, VictorChandler.com and 888Sport.com with 15/2.
Even longer for fans of the Istanbul-based team are PaddyPower.com, BoyleSports.com and Ladbrokes.com showing odds of 8/1 while WilliamHill.com and StanJames.com list 17/2 on a Besiktas win.
Under the current circumstances, a draw would be a massive accomplishment for Besiktas with BlueSq.com, ToteSport.com and 888Sport.com offering odds of 16/5 on this eventuality. This is followed by BetFred.com, SkyBet.com and VictorChandler.com with 10/2 while ExtraBet.com, Bet365.com, BoyleSports.com, SportingBet.com, StanJames.com, PaddyPower.com, Expekt.com, Ladbrokes.com, Coral.co.uk and WilliamHill.com are going with 7/2.
Meanwhile, former Chelsea manager Avram Grant is the bookmakers’ early favourite to succeed Paul Hart as boss of struggling Portsmouth. The Premiership team is rooted to the foot of the table and fired Hart yesterday after a narrow loss to Stoke City at the weekend.
Grant is listed at odds of 2/1 with Ladbrokes.com to take over followed by former Peterborough chief Darren Ferguson, son of the Manchester United boss, at 5/2 with VictorChandler.com.
Other names in the frame include former Reading and Manchester City manager Steve Coppell at 5/1 with VictorChandler.com while Alan Curbishley is 4/1 with Ladbrokes.com. Outsiders include Kevin Keegan and Steve McClaren at odds of 14/1 with VictorChandler.com while Glenn Hoddle is 16/1 and Terry Venables 20/1 at SkyBet.com.
