Manchester United is a -138 moneyline favorite in Soccer Betting, while Newcastle is at +375.

Manchester got a strong performance from Edwin van der Sar in goal against Chelsea in a Champions League game. He has missed the last few starts in EPL action, but it shouldn’t matter. Van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak are both capable goalies. Offensively, Manchester can score without problem. Dimitar Berbatov has an amazing 21 goals this season. Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, and Nani can also score. Manchester has 70 goals through 32 games so far this season.

For Newcastle, the offense will have to come through. Tim Krul and Steve Harper have both struggled in goal. As a team, Newcastle has allowed 47 goals. The offense is capable, but not as dynamic as that of Manchester. Kevin Nolan and Andrew Carroll lead the team in goals, and both are elite players. The rest of the roster is going to have to step up if they want to win this game.

Manchester defeated Newcastle in the first EPL game this season. They won that game 3-0 and have looked great ever since. They are the superior team, but Newcastle is capable of scoring. They have beaten Arsenal this season and forced a draw with Chelsea. They shouldn’t be overlooked.

Liverpool is a slight favorite in soccer betting lines at +162 while Manchester City is +175.

Manchester City has thrived on defense. They have allowed 27 goals in EPL action, good for the second fewest in the league. Joe Hart has been solid all season, and he has kept the team in most games. The offense has come to life as the season has gone as well, taking some of the pressure off of Hart and the defense. Carlos Tevez has been the star with 19 goals, nearly half the total for the team.

Liverpool hasn’t been as consistent this year. They got off to a tough start but are starting to settle in to their game. Goalie Pepe Reina has stepped up lately. He has allowed 38 goals on the season so far. Offensively, Liverpool is still missing the departed Fernando Torres. Still, Dirk Kuyt and Raul Meireles are capable scorers for this team. Liverpool has gotten recent wins against Chelsea and Manchester United, so they are capable of winning big games.

Manchester City won the first game with a 3-0 score. They have better talent on defense, so Liverpool will be hard pressed to score. However, playing at home should work to Liverpool’s advantage. Expect a tight game where one goal could make all of the difference.  In online betting free picks Manchester City are favorites to win this mach.

Soccer Betting Odds have the game as a pick’em and the over/under total at 2.5.

The Sounders are opening their third season in MLS and have had great success for an expansion team. And the fans have followed, with the Sounders leading the MLS in attendance in their first two seasons.

Seattle has also made the MLS playoffs both seasons, and has won the Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup the past two seasons qualifying them for the CONCACAF Champions Cup where they play not only North American football clubs, but also teams from Central America and the Caribbean.

This season, the Sounders are aiming to not just make the MLS playoffs, but win the MLS cup.

Last year, the Sounders finished the season with 10 wins in their last 15 matches to make the MLS playoffs, but were knocked out in the conference semifinals by the Galaxy.

LA looks solid again this season, with one key departure and addition. Striker Edson Buddle is no longer with the team as he signed to play with FC Inglostadt 04 of the Second German League in January.  The Galaxy replaced him with former Aston Villa and New York Red Bull star striker Juan Pablo Angel in the offseason.

The Galaxy won the 2010 Supporters Shield as the top finisher in the MLS, return with other notable players such as Omar Gonzalez, David Beckham and Landon Donavan.

Check out online sportsbooks for Soccer odds closer to game time.

For Arsenal, Wojciech Szczesny figures to be in goal again. He has been the regular starter for about a month. He has played well since taking over, playing just one poor game. Offensively, Arsenal has been a force. They have 56 goals on the EPL season, giving them one of the strongest offenses around. Samir Nasri and Robin Van Persie have been the strongest performers.

For Stoke City, Asmire Begovic has been the starting goalie since October. He has been solid, allowing 19 goals in 17 matches. His strength will be needed because Stoke City isn’t as dominant offensively as Arsenal. Robert Huth is the only player with more than 5 goals on the roster. Kenwyne Jones leads the team with 62 shots on goal.

Stoke City has been up and down for most of the season. They have lost three of their last four matches, being shut out in each game. The struggles on offense have been obvious. That will need to change if they have any hopes of beating Arsenal. Arsenal can score, so it is up to Stoke City to respond. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season. Arsenal swept both matches last season.

Arsenal has gotten off to a great start. They had won three and tied two matches prior to the loss to West Bromwich. They have scored sixteen goals overall on the EPL season. Theo Walcott leads the way with four goals in two starts. Andrei Arshavin has notched two goals on seventeen shots while starting each of the first six games. Arsenal has also gotten decent goaltending from Manuel Almunia, who has allowed seven goals while saving twelve shots.

Meanwhile, Chelsea looked unbeatable prior to their fall against Manchester City. They scored 21 goals in their first five games before being shut out. Florent Malouda leads Chelsea with six goals on the season. Didier Drogba has added five and Salomon Kalou has four. The offense has been potent all season, but managed little against Manchester City. Equally impressive is goalie Peter Cech, who has allowed just two goals this season.

This should be a great match. Both teams feature a lot of scoring threats on offense. They also have solid goaltending, though Chelsea has a slight edge in that department. Playing at home, Chelsea will need to neutralize the Arsenal attack. Both teams will be hungry after suffering defeats in their previous matches.

Houston and New York played earlier this season, on June 2nd. In that game, New York walked away victorious by a score of 2-1. However, past results are not indicative of the future, and Houston has the advantage of playing at home. In order to walk away with a win, Houston needs Pat Onstad, their goalkeeper, to have a great game. He currently has 32 saves on the season. They also need Brad Davis and Brian Ching, who each have 3 goals on the year, to have a big game.

New York, on the other hand, needs their goalkeeper, Bouna Coundoul, to keep playing like he has been. He has 50 saves on the year. They also need Juan Pablo Angel to keep doing what he does best, which is scoring goals. He already has 9 goals on the year.

If their last game, which ended up 2-1, is any indication, Saturday’s MLS match between Houston and New York will be exciting. Despite one team being higher in the standings than the other, all signs point to a close, hard-fought game. Tune in on Saturday night to see who walks away victorious.

On ESPN’s Soccer Power Index, Uruguay, world cup odds favorite, is currently the top-rated team. With Diego Forlán and Luis Suarez, they are led by arguably the best forward tandem in the tournament. Each of them ranked among the top five players in both goals and assists in the qualifying matches.

Oscar Tabárez, Uruguay’s coach, has asked his team to draw inspiration from the country’s rich history in the tournament. In 1930, Uruguay won the first ever World Cup and won again twenty years later. . “We need to have some kind of link with those great champions, at least in terms of our footballing culture and what it means to us,” said Tabárez.

This match will likely determine whether Mexico advances to the knockout round for the sixth consecutive World Cup tournament, as the last game of group play. Mexico has yet to play in at least a semifinal of the World Cup, despite their historical success in the early rounds and the country’s strong support for the national team.

Thus far, the offense has been fairly balanced for Mexico. In the 18 qualifying matches, six players scored three goals; no one scored more. With midfielder Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who has two World Cups under his belt, leading the way, they are rich in experience.

Javier Aguirre is the coach of Mexico and they usually run a 4-4-2 formation that ends up resembling a 4-1-5. Every once in a while Tabárez moves one of the defensive players up in order to keep the ball up field and have them in a typical 4-4-2 formation.

They met in Washington and discussed different agreements but it is apparent that no deal has been made. This could lead to a possible soccer strike since the deadline is coming up quickly and the two parties did not meet this Tuesday. Here are few notes on the progress of the talks so far.

The first thing to note is that negotiations thrive on last minute pressure and small windows of opportunity. Many of these kinds of talks go down to the last minute where the differing parties start compromising. This does not mean that agreements always come before the deadline, so there is still a chance that a work stoppage could happen.

The facts are that the players union needs to either make a deal or get ready for a long strike. The pressure is on the union right now to be strong and resolved over the next two days. If they choose to make a deal they need to make the MLS give up some meaningful ground somewhere along the lines.

If no collective bargaining agreement can be reached then the union needs to be prepared to have a lengthy strike and not budge. They do this until MLS decides to finally give in somewhere. Anything less than this and the players union will be in trouble for future agreements and bargains that are to be reached.

In years past, the off-season has always been a time of problems and uncertainty for this soccer team. However, they finally seem to have reached a point of stability in their team’s roster.

There have only been five players total that are not coming back to the Galaxy after last season. One of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s veterans, Alan Gordon, talked about the coming together of their soccer team. He said that he felt relieved that there were not a lot of offseason changes because now they are all familiar with each others style of play, and have created quite a bit of chemistry. He said that they are off to a faster start, and now it’s just about getting back into shape. He talked about how other good soccer teams have remained good because they have kept their nucleus together and not made a ton of changes. If what he says is correct then the Galaxy should be ready to roll come next season and be even bettor for some online betting action.

The coach of the team made a lot of changes when he first arrived, and helped the Galaxy to reach the playoffs again after five years of lackluster performance. If the team continues to play together and get comfortable with each other, there is no telling what they can do this coming year.