What a win for Aston Villa last night. Bayern hadn’t lost a Champions League group game for years, think I read it was something like 40+ matches – that was until they met Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.

Villa caused them problems all night. Not only was Watkins a constant threat in behind, he softened the Bayern defence up to allow Duran to come on and score a fantastic winning goal. Villa worked tirelessly in midfield, the back four were superb and with Martinez in goal you’ve got the perfect platform for clean sheets.

If Man Utd aren’t seriously considering trying to convince Emery to come up the road then I’d be very surprised. He’s exactly the sort of manager Man Utd need. Whether Emery would leave is a different conversation all together, but Man Utd should definitely be asking the question.

Special mention for Morgan Rogers who I mentioned on the previous blog post. He was fantastic last night and an England call up is very likely before the end of the season in my opinion.

Sticking with the midlands clubs… Birmingham City are flying in League One. It’s probably expected after spending a massive chunk of money in the summer. But it’s always a potential banana skin when you appoint a manager with no experience and you’re also the scalp for every other team in the league. I’ve seen Blues a few times this season – they can start games relatively slow – but in the second half vs Huddersfield I thought they were superb and based on that 45 minutes alone I think they are a certainty to be playing Championship football next season. That brings me to my first advised bet on today’s blog…

Jay Stansfield was Birmingham City’s big summer signing from Fulham. He’s too good for the level he is playing. He created the goal for Alfie May against Huddersfield and I think that’s kind of flipped the odds the wrong way in the top goalscorer betting. Stansfield is going to start every game he is fit for, whereas Alfie May has been sacrificed once or twice already so far this season. He was dropped for a game and he has also been pushed to a wide left position which doesn’t suit him at all. May is as short as 2/1 for the top scorer betting in League One, where as Stansfield is 4/1 with Bet365. I think that’s the wrong way around and Jay Stansfield is a bet.

JAY STANSFIELD TOP GOALSCORER IN LEAGUE TWO @ 4/1 – WITH BET365

Europa League later today and Rangers host Lyon at Ibrox. Rangers are, I wouldn’t say struggling – that’s perhaps the wrong word, but they definitely aren’t fully firing. I think Lyon, who have lots of pace and power in their team, will cause Rangers problems. I saw Rangers’ record vs French teams at Ibrox and it’s not pretty reading. Lyon at almost 2/1 to win are overpriced.

Trying to nick a bit of money for the weekend on this game. Here’s a 9/4 BetBuilder that I’ll be having a tenna on..

• Tom Lawrence to commit 1 foul
• Mohammed Diomande to commit 1 foul
• Cyriel Dessers to have 1 shot on target
• Nedim Bajrami to have 2 shots

- £10 pays £32.50 with PaddyPower

One horse racing bet today. Comes in the last race at Chelsmford – the 8:30 on the card. Looks like a few will take each other on for the lead and I think it’ll set it up for a horse who just sits off the pace and gets a little bit further. I like the look of Crocodile Power who is in really good form, he’s a smooth traveller – so the faster they go the better and he has won over 7f’s at Chelmsford in the past. If they do take each other on up front as expected then I’d be surprised if Crocodile Power isn’t in the first 3 home.

8:30 CHELMSFORD – CROCODILE POWER @ 9/2 – EW BET WITH WILLIAM HILL

Until tomorrow.