TODAY'S EMAIL .............

FRIDAY DECEMBER 18TH

I have to leave the three English games today, the weather in the UK is very bad, at least from a sporting point of view, with freezing temperatures and a huge amount of snow, my daughters, who have been given an extra day off school, view things a little differently. There will surely be plenty of pitch inspections in the next couple of days and a lot of matches are sure to be in trouble, especially in the lower leagues.

Anyway, more about that tomorrow, for now, I will stick with two games from mainland Europe.

GERMANY
BUNDESLIGA 2
DUISBURG- ALEMANNIA AACHEN

Hosts are in terrific form at the moment, they are on a seven match unbeaten run, five of which they have won and goals are definitely proving easy to come by, as the two draws, both ended 2-2. Duisburg are not just getting results, but performing at a high level, I watched the wins over Paderborn and Furth and they were dominant in both and worthy of a bigger margin of victory. I expect them to be very motivated this evening, this is a club with promotion in their sights and they know that three points will take them up two places and into third spot, at least for 24 hours. with the two teams directly above them both facing difficult road games at the weekend, they would have every chance of holding that position over the winter break, which is a tremendous incentive.

Aachen are an archetypal mid table side, they are a little short of promotion quality and lack experience, too good to go down, they are exactly where they should be in the table and seem booked for a 8th-14th placed finish, almost regardless of results, if that makes any kind of sense, which it probably doesn't ! They have a poor record in this series, collecting just one point from six visits, in a fixture that usually produces goals, an average of 4.0 in that sequence of games. Hosts to win another free scoring game.

6 points Duisburg -1/2 ball 2.06 asian line.

FRANCE
LIGUE 2
STRASBOURG - GUINGAMP

Terrible season for Strasbourg after narrowly missing out on promotion last season, when they fell just one point short. Consecutive home wins over fellow relegation candidates Istres and Basita have merely papered over the holes and this is a club in turmoil on and off the pitch. The coach knows his days are numbered and a big name replacement is already lined to take over during the mini winter break. To that end, it might be easier to do the deal after a home disappointment, rather than a third win in a row, in front of home fans, but maybe that is the cynic in me talking.

Very long injury / suspension list for the hosts, with Bellaid, Fauvergue and Gargarov the latest unavailable, the last two named provide all the creative quality in the team and in their absence, it is hard to see where the goals are going to come from. Guingamp are better than their current 12th place suggests and arrive here on the back of consecutive road wins at Nantes and Chateauroux ,a third is definitely on the cards.

6.5 points Guingamp +1/4 ball 1.97 asian line.

Good Luck.