11/15/2008 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal fell nine points off the league lead on Saturday as the Gunners suffered a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium.
Ashley Young missed a penalty kick in the 20th minute as Villa created numerous chances in the opening half, however the visitors went in front with 20 minutes to play on a Gael Clichy own-goal and they got a second from Gabriel Agbonlahor 10 minutes later to secure the maximum points.
The win lifts Villa into fifth place, level on 23 points with Arsenal, while the Gunners followed up a big 2-1 win over Manchester United last week by losing for the second time in three league games.
The visitors took the game to Arsenal in the first half and they were rewarded for their efforts in the 20th minute when Young was taken down inside the box by Arsenal's Theo Walcott.
Young picked himself up and stepped to the spot, but his low effort was not hit well, allowing goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to get and make the stop, with William Gallas clearing the rebound to safety.
The Arsenal attack was always a step off on the day, and they had a number of build-ups stopped with sloppy passing.
Villa finally went in front in the 70th minute when Young crossed from the left wing for Agbonlahor. Clichy got inside of his man but he was under pressure from the Villa striker, and the Frenchman's header ended up finding the top corner of his own net.
The Gunners nearly hit back two minutes later when Emmanuel Adebayor's header was turned away by a great diving stop from Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel, but the hosts went down two goals with 10 minutes to play.
A long clearance from the back allowed Agbonlahor to chase the ball down and get into the box before holding off Gallas and firing past Almunia to put the game away.
Chelsea remained on top of the league with an easy 3-0 win over West Bromwich as Nicolas Anelka scored two times, while Liverpool kept pace with the Blues by beating Bolton 2-0.
Manchester United took over third place as the Red Devils hammered Stoke City 5-0, Fulham downed Tottenham 2-1, Newcastle was denied three points in the final minute as Wigan's Titus Bramble scored to make it a 2-2 game, West Ham and Portsmouth played to a 0-0 draw and Sunderland used two second-half goals to topple Blackburn 2-1.
<< Dundee United's unbeaten run ends at hands of Killie
Kilmarnock, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dundee United's 10-game unbeaten
streak came to an end on Saturday at Rugby Park as Kilmarnock handed the
visitors a 2-0 defeat.
Jamie Hamill converted from the penalty spot in first-half
<< Nirat's eagle enough for Singapore Open lead
Singapore (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chapchai Nirat eagled the 11th hole Saturday and
moved atop the leaderboard during the suspended third round of the Singapore
Open.
Nirat is five-under on his round through 12 holes. He sits at nine-under pa
<< South Carolina's Raley-Ross sidelined with knee sprain
Columbia, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South Carolina guard Brandis Raley-Ross will
miss 3-to-4 weeks with a left knee sprain suffered in Friday night's victory
against Jacksonville State.
Head coach Darrin Horn, in his first season on the jo
<< Around the CFL: Improvements up front a big reason for Als success
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There's a big reason for the Montreal
Alouettes' turnaround this season.
The Alouettes posted an 11-7 record this year to finish atop the East Division
standings and earn the right to host the co
Lions rebound in rout of Indiana >>
University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derrick Williams ran for 61 yards with
a touchdown and added 62 yards receiving with another score, as No. 7 Penn
State pulled away for a 34-7 victory over Indiana on a dreary afternoon at
Beaver
Wells, Pryor rush Ohio St. past Illini >>
Champaign, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Wells and Terrelle Pryor each ran for
more than 100 yards with a touchdown, leading 10th-ranked Ohio State to a
30-20 victory over Illinois at Memorial Stadium.
Wells finished with 143 yards on
NHL Southeast: Tampa no longer Melrose's place >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's hardly a shocking occurrence when an NHL head coach
gets fired, but few people could have seen the Tampa Bay Lightning's dismissal
of Barry Melrose coming.
Melrose waited over 13 years to make his return to an NHL ben
No. 13 Georgia escapes Auburn with a win >>
Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matthew Stafford threw a pair of touchdown
passes and Knowshon Moreno ran for 131 yards, but 13th-ranked Georgia needed a
last-minute defensive stop to pull out a 17-13 victory over Auburn at Jordan-
Hare St
The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.
New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).
The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.
Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.
Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.
Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.
The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.
Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.
The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.
Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.
However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).
The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.
Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.
In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.
Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.
Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.
MySportsbook is considered one of the finest football sportsbooks according to several surveys performed by independent industry analysts considering such factors as payout accuracy and timeliness, overall quality of website, and bettor satisfaction.
MySportsbook is a large company with strong financial backing. Considered the best sportsbook for betting football online You will find their customer service is second to none and their web site is extremely user friendly and easy-to-use. All major professional sports games are available. Once you signup with MySportsbook, you may never use another online sportsbook again.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your nfl football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting