NFL .......

OAKLAND RAIDERS @ SAN DIEGO CHARGERS

This could be termed a big AFC West match up, but in reality, the Raiders are out of post season contention and San Diego would need a minor miracle to get involved now. They need to win all four of their remaining fixtures allied to a Broncos collapse, it is a chance, albeit a small one and we can expect them to be up for the task, at least 4 wins would stop them recording their first losing season in five years, but what about giving up the circa nine points ? That looks a tall order when we consider that they have lost 5 from 6 and their only win in that sequence,came by a single point against hapless 2-10 Kansas City ! However, they have won their last 10 starts against the Raiders, six of the last seven, including the meeting in Oakland earlier this season, by at least 10 points.

The Raiders played pretty well that day, did most things right and yet still lost by ten points. They are a bit of an enigma and hard to catch right, two of their three wins have come against the Jets and in Denver by 21 points ! A week after beating the Broncos, they lost to Kansas, which says all you need to know about their consistency ! They have only scored a touchdown in four of their last 23 quarters of play and when you consider that three of those came in the win at Denver, which makes that win all the more surprising, you can see where their problems lie. When they lose, it is normally big, average margin of defeat being 15 points this season .

Chargers star running back Ladainian Tomlinson has had a poor year, especially by his normally impressive high standard, but will take great heart from the fact that he posted season high stats in the first meeting and also ran for two touchdowns. I expect San Diego to win and keep the dream alive, at least for another week, it is a tough line, but I just favour them to cover it, as they match up so well against Oakland.

5 points San Diego -9.5 points 2.05 Pinnacle Sports.

Good Luck.