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

FC Barcelona and Juventus both advanced into the group stage of the Soccer Betting Champions League based on their first leg wins last week. Barcelona routed Wisla Krakow 4-0 last week while Juventus won 4-0 against Artmedia. Tuesday’s second leg results were virtually meaningless as Barcelona lost 1-0 and Juventus played Artmedia to a 1-1 draw. Juventus and FC Barcelona both easily advanced on aggregate.

Greek side Panathinaikos advanced as well into the group stage of the Champions league with a 1-0 win over Sparta Prague. Panathinaikos had won 2-1 in the first leg last week.

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Juventus has not been to the group stage for two years because they were relegated to the second division because of the match-fixing scandal. They had no trouble in this qualifying matchup with Artmedia. Barcelona advanced even though they suffered a meaningless loss that gave new coach Pep Guardiola his first defeat. “I don’t think today we have taken a step backwards in our preparations,” Guardiola said. “Perhaps we weren’t so precise but we had an opponent which was also playing and we had five or six chances with only the goalkeeper to beat. We lost but we could have drawn or even won.” Since Barcelona really had things clinched with the 4-0 win in the first leg they rested Olympic champion Lionel Messi, who recently returned from Beijing after playing for Argentina.

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Arsenal won the first leg of their Soccer Betting Champions League qualifying match, 2-0 against FC Twente on Wednesday. The victory puts Arsenal in excellent shape to advance to the group stage. The first half against Twente was not what Arsenal expected but captain William Gallas and Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored in the second half as Arsenal got the win.

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Arsenal now doesn’t have to be too worried about advancing in the Champions League after the 2-0 win. They can now focus on their Premier League opener against West Brom on Saturday. Arsenal started slowly against FC Twente and could have been trailing at the half but Twente couldn’t put away their chances. The second half was controlled by Arsenal as they proved they were the superior squad.

Another Premier League team escaped in first leg qualifying action. Liverpool was able to get a scoreless draw against Standard Liege in a game they easily could have lost. Liege easily could have won by two or three goals and now probably won’t advance as the return leg is at Liverpool.

Read more on Soccer News: Arsenal Looking Good in Champions League Qualifying

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,” 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,” 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.”

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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

Cristiano Ronaldo could be headed to Real Madrid, or he could not. The Glazer family, who owns Manchester United are talking like Ronaldo to Real Madrid is almost a certainty but other United officials are not so sure. Reports are circulating that the Glazers are now focused on the fee they will charge Real Madrid for the world’s best soccer player. It is expected to be a world record transfer fee, perhaps as high as 70-75 million Euro. Other reports have the club saying that Ronaldo will not be sold for any price.

Jorge Mendes is Ronaldo’s agent and he has reportedly told Manchester United that Ronaldo wants to go to Real Madrid. Ronaldo is set to have ankle surgery in the next few days and is availability for the start of next season is in question. He will not be making the preseason trip for Manchester United that begins in South Africa later this month.

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In other transfer news, Manchester City is getting tired of waiting for a decision from Barcelona’s Ronaldinho.

Read more on Conflicting Reports Regarding Ronaldo’s Future

Jose Mourinho was named manager at Inter Milan on Monday, replacing Roberto Mancini who was fired last week.

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Jose Mourinho has been without a job since leaving Chelsea last September. Inter Milan released a statement about the hiring saying, “Thanking Roberto Mancini and his staff for the successes obtained in four seasons in charge of the team,” Inter said, “All of FC Internazionale welcomes Jose Mourinho and his coaches and wishes them the best of luck in their new jobs.”

“He can win the Soccer Betting Champions League with this team and I would like to be a part of it,” said winger Luis Figo. Mancini was fired last week even though Inter won their third straight league title.

Read more on Inter Milan Soccer News: Inter Milan Hires Jose Mourinho

A berth in the Soccer Betting Champions League final and a second place finish in the Premier League was not enough for Chelsea manager Avram Grant, as he was fired on Saturday.

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The loss to Manchester United in the Champions League final seemed to seal his fate. “Everybody at Chelsea FC would like to thank Avram for his contribution since taking over as manager last September,” the club said, “We will now be concentrating all our efforts on identifying a new manager for Chelsea and there will be no further comment until that appointment is made.” Grant took over for Jose Mourinho in September and did a fine job but coming away without a title was not acceptable for Chelsea. Owner Roman Abramovich has said that he wants a more exciting style of play and a trophy. Grant was facing an uphill battle replacing the popular Mourinho, especially after Mourinho led the Blues to back to back league titles.

It is possible that Grant may have been fired even if Chelsea had won the Champions League final. The heart-breaking loss on penalty kicks to United definitely made it easier for the club to let him go.

Read more on Soccer News: Chelsea Fires Manager Avram Grant

Cristiano Ronaldo has said that he will decide next week whether or not to stay with Manchester United or go to Real Madrid.

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It is expected that Real Madrid will make an offer of up to £100 million for soccer’s best player Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo had 42 goals in all competition this season as Manchester United won both the Soccer Betting Premier League and the Champions League. “My future will be clear next week. Everyone will be pleased - my club as well as me,” Ronaldo said, “I think I will definitely be here next season. Yes, I want to stay. I have played five years for this club and I’d love to stay here. I love the people, the players are fantastic, the atmosphere is unbelievable, the staff are great. That is the reason I want to stay. We won the most important trophies this season. I want to do it again next season but no one knows the future.”

Cristiano Ronaldo is aware that Manchester United has a great team capable of winning again next season. “This is a young team and we have everything to win next year,” said Ronaldo. “We want to win the Champions League again and we have a good chance. We have a good team spirit. I can get better. The goals are not the most important thing. Maybe I will…

Read more on Manchester United Soccer News: Cristiano Ronaldo’s Future to be Decided Next Week

Manchester United defeated Chelsea in a penalty shootout 6-5 in the Soccer Betting Champions League final after the teams played to a 1-1 draw in regulation and extra time. Chelsea had a number of excellent chances to win but it was Manchester United that ultimately took home the trophy. United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar saved the 14th penalty of the shootout to give United the win. He stopped Nicolas Anelka and Manchester United won their third European Cup title.

The final between United and Chelsea was a hard fought game that included a late red card going to Didier Drogba. He was sent off in extra time but very little time remained. The expulsion really hurt Chelsea in the shootout since Drogba is one of their top scorers. The first goal of the game was scored by Cristiano Ronaldo who headed in a shot in the 26th minute. It was the 42nd goal of the season for the best player in the world as he took a Wes Brown cross and headed it into the corner. Manchester United easily could have led 2-0 but goalkeeper Petr Cech was brilliant in stopping Tevez and Carrick.

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