Arsenal is already facing a must-win game in the Soccer Betting Premier League as they host Manchester United on Saturday. Manager Arsene Wenger has said the team must come away with a win if they expect to contend for the title this season. A loss would make it very difficult for the Gunners because they would be four points back of United and could fall as many as nine behind Chelsea and Liverpool. “It’s a massive game of massive importance for us,” Wenger said. “Manchester United-Arsenal is always a special one. It’s important for us that we do well in the big games in this league now.”

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Arsenal has not won in any of its last three matches. They played to a 4-4 draw with Tottenham after leading 4-2. One of those matches was a draw to Fenerbahce at home in the Soccer Betting Champions League. Wenger is not happy with his players or with the referees. “In the second half, we dropped physically and were less dangerous from then on,” Wenger said, “We were not sharp enough to put our strikers into good positions. You expect us to make chances in the last 20 minutes and this didn’t come because physically we didn’t have the resources.”

Wenger is really upset about the amount of penalties his team is getting in the Premier League. “Look at the fair play table. Who is top? Arsenal,” he said. “Look at the team that makes less fouls. Arsenal. (Yet) who gets more yellow cards after four or five fouls? Arsenal. Some teams get their first yellow cards after 15 fouls.”

Soccer Betting Preview: Arsenal Facing Must-Win Game on Saturday

The expectations are starting to build for Liverpool under manager Rafael Benitez. The team is now all alone at the top of the Soccer Betting Premier League standings and fans are starting to get excited. Benitez is urging caution though as his team faces a tough week. “It is a crucial week for us. We are at the top for the first time and everybody is waiting for our reaction, to see whether we can we handle it.” Benitez said, “So we must concentrate even more now. We must not slip up or lose our focus. We are in a fantastic position and we will try to stay there as long as we can. The key for me is that the team is working together, all of them helping and motivating their team-mates. That is a massive difference.”

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It has been 18 years since Liverpool won the title and fans are definitely excited about the prospects this season. “Keeping a lid on expectation is difficult. The fans want to see the team at the top and they badly want the title, so it is difficult to keep our people calm.” Benitez said, “We know we have the responsibility to give the same message to everyone, the fans in particular.”

Liverpool hosts Portsmouth on Wednesday and that will not be easy considering there could be a letdown for Liverpool after their 1-0 win on Sunday at Chelsea. “We played particularly well at Chelsea in the second half, we had more confidence and more options on the counter attack. They also were nervous, they had been unbeaten at home in the league for a long time and they were trying to go forward too quickly, and they made mistakes.”

Soccer Betting News: Liverpool at the Top of the Premier League

The Soccer Betting Premier League has been dominated by Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in recent seasons. Liverpool wants to join those three teams and so far in the 2008 season, they have. Liverpool star Dirk Kuyt believes his team can stay at the top. Every three games we have a big game. We had Everton and PSV last week, and our target is just to win every game and try to be there by the end of the season. But it was vital to keep pace with Chelsea before the internationals. We can leave with a good feeling. We’ve already had one international break and we came back in our first game after it and beat Manchester United, so I wouldn’t say it comes at a bad time. Anyway, we don’t need any excuses. We’ll just keep on going and see how we do against Wigan in our next game.

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One problem for Liverpool is that they will be without defender Martin Skrtel for months after he suffered damage to his posterior cruciate ligament of his right knee.

Read more on Soccer Bettin Preview: Liverpool and Chelsea Lead Premier League

Many Soccer Betting Premier League teams are dealing with injuries heading into this weekend’s action. Chelsea is at the top of the standings with their unbeaten start but they will be missing a number of key players in Sunday’s match against Aston Villa. In their Wednesday Champions League match with FCR Cluj they were without Joe Cole, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole. What is even worse is that they lost Didier Drogba to a knee injury in that match and he could be out of a while. John Terry and Alex were also hurt in that match. “I need to think for the game on Sunday,” said manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, “I have a few days to build the team again. I don’t know now what the possibilities I have for Sunday are.”

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The injuries really could cause Chelsea to fall out of first place. “If Didier is out for a while, we will have to pitch in with goals from all around the team, which we can do, though the situation is not ideal,” said midfielder Frank Lampard, “The experience is not really there, but I believe the quality is.”

Read more on Soccer Betting Preview: Premier League Teams Dealing with Injuries

Third-tier club Brighton defeated Manchester City in the Soccer Betting Carlin Cup on Wednesday to advance to the final 16. The loss is a major embarrassment for City, especially after they chose to rest Robinho for the match. Brighton won on penalties 5-3 after the teams tied 2-2 after extra time. Brighton goalkeeper Michel Kuipers saved City’s fourth penalty taken by Michael Ball and Matthew Richards scored the final penalty goal and City was eliminated. City midfielder Gelson Fernandes had scored in the 64th minute of regulation but Glenn Murray tied it in the 89th minute for Brighton. Brighton scored early in extra time as Joe Anyinsah scored but Stephen Ireland tied it for City in the 108th minute. A record home crowd of 8,729 was ecstatic after the win. Brighton now will face Derby in the third round.

In other Carling Cup action, Chelsea had no problems with Portsmouth, winning 4-0 as Frank Lampard scored twice. Portsmouth has given up 10 goals in their last two matches.” We had a makeshift midfield and we worked very hard but we gave away scandalous goals,” said manager Harry Redknapp, “The first one wasn’t a penalty. He left his foot in there and dived. After that the other goals were poor. “We haven’t been leaking goals all season but we have had two games now. Chelsea are a fantastic team, a different class, but the goals were poor.”

Soccer Betting Preview: Brighton Shocks Manchester City in Carling Cup

Chelsea and Manchester United played to a 1-1 draw on Sunday and both teams came away from the game feeling differently. Chelsea is battered and bruised while Manchester United is encouraged. Chelsea will be without defender Ricardo Carvalho who is out for up to a month with a knee injury and Deco will miss two weeks because of a torn thigh muscle. Chelsea is already without midfielder Michael Essien who is out for months.

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Manchester United feels very encouraged after their draw at Chelsea. “That was definitely a point gained for us and was an answer to our critics,” said United’s Wayne Rooney. “As soon as we saw the fixture list we knew it was going to be a tough start to the season. We have just had three really hard games, possibly our toughest of all. Now we have got them out of the way, hopefully we can go on a run.”

Manchester United nearly ended Chelsea’s 85-match unbeaten home record but they were still pleased to come away with a draw. “Chelsea have a really good record here, so although we were in front for quite a long time and did well, a draw was a good result and probably quite fair given how the game went,” Rooney said. “I had a half-chance before they equalized which I might have done a bit better with. But it wasn’t to be and overall we did well.”

Read more on Soccer Betting Preview: Chelsea Injured, Manchester United Optimistic

Reports are that Kevin Keegan is out as manager of Newcastle United following a meeting with the club’s directors on Tuesday. Keegan was reportedly unhappy ownership was not willing to do much in the transfer market and wanted out. Last week James Milner was sold to Aston Villa even though Keegan wanted him to stay.

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The transfer issue really came to a head a few weeks ago when Dennis Wise took over as Executive Director at Newcastle. Since that time the team has been unable to sign any big names and Keegan was upset at the lack of action. Keegan was welcomed back at Newcastle with open arms in January after Sam Allardyce was fired. Keegan first coached Newcastle in 1992 and did quite well at the helm. He resigned in 1997 and went on to manage Fulham, England and Manchester City.

Read more on Premier League Soccer News: Kevin Keegan Out at Newcastle

The top of the Soccer Betting Premier League is expected to be a battle between Manchester United and Chelsea once again this season. The Blues are doing their part, starting the season with two wins while United has a win and a tie.

Manchester United was able to get a 1-0 win against Portsmouth even without a number of their key players including Cristiano Ronaldo. Also missing were Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves.

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Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp believes it is a two-team race in the Premier League once again. “They are still so strong that I can see them and Chelsea being the two slugging it out again for the title. They will probably meet again in a repeat of the Champions League final too, I shouldn’t wonder. Certainly, I think Arsenal and Liverpool have it all on to finish above them. Chelsea were very strong last week and United will be even stronger than they are now if they sign Dimitar Berbatov (from Tottenham), as I think they will, in the next few days.”

Read more on Soccer Betting Preview: Manchester United and Chelsea both get 1-0 Wins

The Premier League season gets underway on Saturday with seven games including Arsenal hosting West Brom. Defending champion Manchester United and second place finisher Chelsea will start their seasons on Sunday.

Manchester United will not start the season at full strength so manager Alex Ferguson will have to mix and match early on. Last year Manchester United started slowly with just two points in their first three games but came back to win the title. Manchester United will start this season without superstar scorer Cristiano Ronaldo who is out until October. Ronaldo had 42 goals last season. Also missing to start the season for United will be striker Louis Saha, Nani and Anderson. “Last season we had a staggered start, Tevez and Anderson joined us and weren’t 100 percent fit, Ronaldo got suspended for three games after the first game, then Rooney got injured in the first match against Reading and was out for three games,” Ferguson said, “By the time we got everyone focused and fit, we then went on a fantastic run with our consistency and really good football. I’d prefer to get a good start, we want that, but we are also able to go the long distance.”

Read more on Soccer News: Premier League Season Begins Saturday

Chelsea star Didier Drogba is expected to miss the start of the Soccer Betting Premier League season. He is still recovering from a knee injury and is not expected back until the end of the month.”Didier will not play in our first game against Portsmouth and will probably miss the second against Wigan. If there are no more problems he should be ready for the game after that,â€� said manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

It is possible that Drogba will be back for the game on August 31st against Tottenham but that is not a guarantee. “But when you have a knee injury, you just never know,â€� said Scolari, “I have been getting a progress report from the doctor every day. He’s getting better and is working with a fitness coach back at the training ground. I hope he will be ready to start training next week. But he will not play until he is in good condition.â€�

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Drogba could be signing a new contract soon that would keep him at Chelsea until 2012. “I am confident talks with Chelsea will lead to a positive resolve about my future,� Drogba said.

Read more on Premier League Betting Preview: Drogba to Miss first Two Games for Chelsea