Jose Mourinho and Frank Lampard went through a lot together as boss and player at Chelsea. Tonight they go head-to-head in the EFL Cup third round tie at Old Trafford as managers of Manchester United and Derby. Lampard will know that Mourinho takes these matches seriously and respects the competition by not playing the second string. At Chelsea winning this competition led to becoming champions of England. The tie is decided tonight as there is no provision for a replay.
Mourinho values winning trophies and even though the Premier League and Champions League are at the top of his wish list he would like to win the League Cup and beating Derby tonight is part of that process. United have won all but three of their last 19 home matches in the League Cup and it could be Lampard who prioritises promotion from the Championship by not sending out his best team. However, United struggled against Wolves in the league and Derby are playing well so the DRAW in 90 minutes is the best option at 11/2 with William Hill.
Its Ryder Cup week but the main focus of attention of the golfing world over the last two days has been Tiger Woods. He won his 80th PGA title and first for five years in the Tour Championship on Saturday. Money is not an issue with the former world number one so he was probably not too upset that Justin Rose won the FedEx Cup and $10 million bonus. There are no financial incentives to play in the Ryder Cup but WOODS now sees the bigger picture after two years of trauma. He is 13/8 to be the top American wildcard and that is a price worth taking.
There are three Flat meetings today in Britain and they race on the All-Weather in Chelmsford but there is no racing in Ireland. It’s the big Cambridgeshire meeting at Newmarket at the end of the week but there’s not a great deal to get excited about in the racing programme today. The five furlongs conditions race at Beverly (3.55) is the best race of the day. PERFECT PASTURE has the form and ratings to prevail and the horse can be backed at 10/11 with bet365 to win this race.
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