Tottenham reaffirms CL ambitions

Soccer Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham took another step towards a top- four finish on Saturday as the club downed Blackburn, 3-1, at White Hart Lane behind two goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Jermain Defoe put Spurs in front right before halftime, and Pavlyuchenko doubled the lead 10 minutes after the break before a goal from Christopher Samba reduced the lead to one. However, Pavlyuchenko struck for the second time with five minutes to play to lock up all three points.

Tottenham leads fifth-placed Manchester City by three points, although City has two games in hand, while Blackburn is still 10 points clear of the relegation zone and appears to be relatively safe.

Rovers had to use up a substitution only 26 minutes into the game when goalkeeper Paul Robinson had to leave with a leg injury and was replaced by Jason Brown, who needed to be alert to keep out Benoit Assou-Ekotto's shot.

Brown was able to parry an effort from Defoe to keep the game scoreless, but the Spurs striker found the net shortly before the break when Vedran Corluka flicked a ball on to the far post for Defoe to finish off.

A counter-attack opportunity led to Tottenham doubling the lead after the break as Defoe laid a pass of to Pavlyuchenko for the Russian to fire home, while Gareth Bale had two penalty appeals turned down as the hosts tried to increase their lead.

Blackburn set up a tense finish 10 minutes from time when Samba headed home a corner kick from Morten Gamst Pedersen, but it took only five minutes for Pavlyuchenko to restore the two-goal edge when he got on the other end of a great low cross from Bale to score from a few yards out.

Chelsea returned to the top of the Premiership table with a 4-1 win over West Ham as Didier Drogba scored twice, while Arsenal snuck past 10-man Hull City, 2-1, with a stoppage-time winner from Nicklas Bendtner.

Birmingham and Everton played to a 2-2 draw at St. Andrews, Bolton thrashed Wigan, 4-0, Aston Villa was held to a 0-0 draw by Stoke City and Wolverhampton grabbed three vital points with a 2-1 triumph at Turf Moor over Burnley.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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