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After a disastrous career spell at Chelsea, ex-Liverpool scoring star of previous seasons Fernando Torres has been released by Chelsea who will be prepared to take a loss on the mis-firing striker. Torres never found his feet or indeed his scoring boots at Chelsea, and it seems the label of most expensive footballer EVER, was just too much pressure for a player who was already actually on a bit of a downturn in form in his later days at Liverpool. The heights of his debut season at Liverpool with a 33 goal tally and regular spell binding incisive killer instinct on display, in the later Roy Hodgson days Torres waned until the self-off to Chelsea, at that time in need of a world class striker to end reliance on Didier Drogba, and the £50M (yes, five-zero million - sounds like a bankers bonus doesn’t it) price tag was happily paid by Messrs Abramovich and Co, convinced this would lead them to Premisership and Champions League success. But how differently it ended.

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So, fast forward to December 2011 and Nando is up for sale estimated £20M this time if that, and SKYBET are the first bookmaker to bring out odds on which club he’ll go to. So far Athetico Madrid are favourites to give the wounded Spanish hero and International veteran a peaceful home for some convalescence. They are at odds of 5/1, also Malaga at 5/1, then Real Madrid at 7’s and surprisingly perhaps the odds for him to return to next Liverpool at 12/1 - there’s a precedent for successful returns of course with Bellamy now looking sharp as ever under King Kenny, but surely for Torres himself the humiliation would be too much - or would it..? 12/1 seems about right though, but as a boyhood Kop fan back in Spain you can’t rule it out.

The bookies have odds for a 2-1 win by Liverpool at Anfield tonight of 8/1 (Paddy Power), and Liverpool 3-0 Braga at 10/1 which seems a bit long. Now Liverpool v Braga comes at a time when the odds are favouring Liverpool very much - coming off a resurgence under King Kenny, betting on Liverpool just got a bit more exciting. If Suarez and Kuyt keep up the scoring form they showed against Man Utd, then Braga are in trouble! Latest live Liverpool v Braga odds available at Ladbrokes.com. Also as it’s Cheltenham week, Ladbrokes are offering a massive £60 Free bet promotion which you can use on Liverpool/Braga too!

So it’s back, the best league in the world for the ‘beautiful game’. The opening weekend immediately revealed some surprises with the near-written-off Wengers Army hammering Everton at Goodison 6-1, whilst the other top clubs mostly got the business done (one exception see below), and the new arrivals found out just what a step up the Premiership is from the lower leagues. All that money brings in teh best talent in the world and you better be on your game if you want to compete. Talking of Big Money, the new Billion-Dollar Gorilla in the room is of course in the pale blue of Man City. They looked very sharp on Sunday with a swift 2-0 victory and only about half the new £200 million-worth of new players taking the pitch. Man U conversely seemed tired and ageing with all the old faces and the new ones being, well old themselves in Micheal Owen who failed at one point to hit the back of the net when out in front on his ‘owen’ - can he get his youthfulness back? But when you roll out Scholes and Giggs yet again on the first day and you see the newer upcoming clubs full of fresh hungry players like Spurs’ Modrich & Co. you have to wonder is it a season too far for this squad? Ferdindand’s woeful errors in an England shirt made him look tired too to me.

But aside from the Young Gunners coming so fast out of the blocks the other big story was Liverpools’ Loss. Losing to Spurs at White Hart Lane isn’t a crime, but the manner of the loss will have fans and Raffa worried - billed as ‘Liverpools Big Year’ by many, they looked nervous, lacking in invention and like Man U they looked tired and stale - only 2 changes in the squad which realistically spluttered through on the back of Gerrard and Torres goalscoring, and some poor form by the Top 3 clubs. And there was a giant Alonso-shaped hole in their midfield - possibly an irreplaceable partner to Gerard and Torres? They look like they might be heading for a crisis to me - I predict Torres leaves mid-season and the club sinks into self-doubt on the back of a range of defeats and injuries. Or… Raffa gets out the chequebook - if there’s any money left. Lets hope they can challenge this year though. Morale wise they must show some bounce-back against Stoke on Wednesday and get the big guns firing goalwards or my predictions will come true even earlier!

So let the Games Begin! Enjoy.

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Liverpool v Aston Villa – Steven The Gr-eight

If Steven Gerrard scores the last goal in this match Paddy Power will refund all losing 1st/last goalscorer, correct score & scorecast singles.
Terms & Conditions: Applies to 1st/last goalscorer and correct score singles placed before kick-off only. Max Refund €300/£200 per customer/bet. Paddy Power football rules apply.