Betfair Live Video: Brutal Battle of the Bosphorus, Welcome to Hell

15Dec 2012

Török Superliga

In the lead up to Christmas, Betfair Live Video offers up a wide range of festive football treats. There's a Saturday morning Sydney derby as well as a Sunday night Turkish delight... The guys at Abelson Info assess the action.

Sydney FC vs Western Sydney

Saturday 08:45

Saturday morning brings you the second installment of a newly formed ding-dong derby between a struggling Sydney FC side and new boys Western Sydney. When these two sides met for the very first time in late October, a solitary Del Piero penalty was the difference in a 1-0 Sydney win. However, with the hosts sitting bottom of the league and conceding 23 goals already this campaign, the Wanderers will see this as a prime opportunity to strike.

Getting a much needed away victory at Wellington last weekend, Sydney coach Frank Farina will have had an easier week than the previous few with his side failing to impress. Although languishing at the bottom of the table, those three points have kept the Sky Blues within touching distance of the majority of the league - only three points separating them and their fourth placed visitors Western Sydney. A win on Saturday morning could see them rise as high as sixth place and with the return of influential midfielder Jason Culina to the side, it could make the job a whole lot easier. Culina has been out of action for almost two years, but the prospect of a creative partnership with Del Piero upfront has got the Sydney faithful licking their lips.

The Wanderers grabbed all three points last weekend in a solid display against a struggling Brisbane Roar side. However, consistency is going to be the key for Tony Popivic's side if they are going to mount a serious challenge for silverware in their debut season. It is obvious where Western Sydney have been struggling this season, and that is finding the net. With only six goals scored so far it is hardly surprising that their Croatian striker Dino Kresinger took the brunt of the abuse from the home fans last weekend, getting booed whilst coming on towards the end of the game. Defensively they are solid - having the best defensive record in the league so far will give them the confidence travelling to the Allianz Stadium that they can shut out the hosts, although scoring may prove trickier.

The crowd will be raring to go come Saturday morning, but don't expect goals in a Sydney stalemate.

Recommended Bet

Back the draw @ 3.45

Back 0-0 @ 10.5

Benfica vs Maritimo

Saturday 20:30

Unbeaten, untested and untroubled Benfica are sitting pretty at the top of the Primeira Liga, ready to slug it out with Porto in a two horse race that has so often been the case in Portugal. Their visitors Maritimo are sitting in eighth place fresh off the back of their third win of the season last weekend, and will come to the Estadio da Luz in hope rather than expectation.

Winning their last seven league games, Benfica are the form team going into this weekend's action, and will be looking to extend that run confirming their spot at the top of the tree going into 2013. Once again Oscar Cardozo is taking many of the plaudits for Benfica's goal scoring success, but with help from Rodrigo and Brazilian attacker Lima, they have managed to put teams away in emphatic style in the early stages of this league campaign. Striker Ola John has come out this week saying that they "expect to win" this Saturday night battle, reflecting on the importance to keep top spot going into the New Year.

With nine goals in eleven games, the visitors to the Estadio da Luz haven't set the league alight so far. Struggling to find any form of note and trying to live up to their fifth place finish last season, Pedro Martins' men couldn't have asked for a bigger challenge at a more inappropriate time. In early November they found themselves on the end of a 5-0 thumping from Porto, so don't be surprised if Benfica look to go one better in an 'anything you can do, I can do better' mentality.

Maritimo will struggle to cope with the fluidity of the Benfica attack, and at a price of 17.5 for an away win, expect nothing out of the ordinary to occur.

Recommended Bet

Back Benfica to win @ 1.25

Over 4.5 goals @ 5.1

Zulte Waregem vs KRC Genk

Sunday 13:30

Betfair Live Video takes a trip to West Flanders for Sunday lunch and cooks up a top of the table Belgian feast as second placed Zulte Wagerem host third placed Genk at the Rainbow Stadium. Revenge will be the hosts motivation after Genk gave them a five nil thrashing on Thursday night in the Cup.

Zulte Wagerem or 'Essevee' as they are affectionately known are enjoying their best start ever to a Jupiler Pro League campaign, with eleven wins already they sit one place below league leaders Anderlecht and thanks mainly to a reliable defence they look set to stay near the top of the league for the remainder of the season and put themselves in the hat for the Championship Playoff. They finished a meager thirteenth last year so this season's impressive form has come as somewhat of a surprise, a lot of their wins have come thanks to the goals of Franck Berrier, an even bigger surprise considering over the last five years he has only managed ten goals in Belgian football. This time however he has taken it upon himself to get forward more and has managed double figures already in the first eighteen games. Another player to look out for from Essevee is Chelsea owned Thorgan Hazard, the younger brother of Eden, although not quite at the same level yet he possesses similar attributes and looks an exciting prospect. Behind him will be Junior Malanda, a rock hard dominator in the defensive midfield role, he has had scouts following his progress from all over Europe, it would be no surprise at all to see him in the Premiership soon. Manager Franck Drury will be eager to keep it tight on Sunday after Thursday's humiliation, they were on a great run of nine unbeaten until then, the former policeman will no doubt be reorganising his forces at the back.

Genk will be full of confidence, they have scored thirteen goals in their last three games in domestic competitions and will fancy their chances of snatching second spot away from the hosts. Usually they can rely on Jelle Vossen for goals, the striker has picked up the mantle from Benteke and is a big talent but he may still be struggling with a hamstring injury. If so they will turn to able deputy Benjamin De Ceulaer, he bagged two on Thursday night and should fancy his chances again. They've got a decent record in Waregem and after Thursday night's cup result coach Mario Breen aka 'Mariodona' will be expecting another away win for Genk. It'll probably be a lot tighter than the midweek game but an away win still seems likely and the price is tempting.

Recommended Bet

Back Genk to win @ 2.78

Back 1-0 Genk @ 11.0

Galatasary vs Fenerbahce

Sunday 18:00

Uh Oh an Istanbul derby, this is going to be tasty, for ninety minutes on Sunday night Turkey will be at a standstill. Few places in the world see more ferociously fought and supported derbies and the intercontinental Galatasaray versus Fenerbahce match is the biggest of them all.

Galatasaray are the reigning champions and again lead the pack but Fenerbahce lie just two points behind them. It's likely these two will fight it out for the SuperLig all year and these head to head games are crucial.

After years of success at the Ali Sami stadium Gala moved to the impressive new Turk Telekom Stadium last year but unlike many teams that find it hard to adopt to new surroundings they won the title in the first season in their new home. Their ludicrously passionate fans will bring out the flags, scarves and flares and when they start their infamous war chant it won't stop until long after the final whistle. Their famous welcome to hell or 'Cehennem' welcome will try to intimidate the Fener players throughout. I've been to one of these games, they're as petrifying as they are exciting.

Manager Fatih Terim has his Gala team playing well, they're not only top of the table but have looked comfortable in the Champions League and have progressed to the knockout stages. A lot of their success has been down to the strikers; up front the dangerous combo of Yilmaz and Bulut have seemed unstoppable, they have twenty goals between them already this campaign and while Fener are conceding less than a goal a game they will find it hard to shut out these two on Sunday. On Tuesday night they suffered a humiliating and surprising defeat to 1461 Trabzon in the cup, it was embarrassing for their fans but all will be forgiven if they manage to overcome their great rivals on Sunday.

Fenerbahce sit within striking distance, a win and they take the lead in the SuperLig, the problem is they lack goals. Apart from Moussa Sow and Dirk Kuyt they don't have many reliable scorers and away from home is where most of the problems appear. In this season's Europa League they have been strong on their travels and gained some big victories but domestically they have been disappointing on away grounds, so far they have managed only one win outside Istanbul.

If there is one game to watch this weekend on Betfair Live Video it's got to be this one, a titanic clash between two of the most passionately supported teams in football.

Recommended Bet

Galatasaray to win @ 2.08