Wednesday's betting preview

Laudrup wants to defend this

Carling Cup action tonight and there's a lot I'm unwilling to call. Swansea are away to Birmingham and are looking to begin their defence of the cup with victory at St.Andrew's. Laudrup is likely to name a strong squad I would imagine and the 1.83 looks good to me for a side bang in form.

The clash of the night is no doubt Man Utd and Liverpool, but there's too much uncertainty all round. United will want to show tumps more character after their slamming by City, whilst Liverpool are still licking their wounds after an impotent display at home. Suarez is back for the Anfield outfit, but I wouldn't want to call it.

I'm not sure I can back Arsenal outright, they are likely to have a mix and match side and I'm not sure Wenger takes these cups seriously full stop. But neither is it advisable to back West Brom so I'll give this a miss.

In Serie A, Milan have very likely been read the riot act. They play Bologna tonight and I think that this is a game that they need to win. I appreciate that Milan look out of sorts but it simply has to change around soon and they looked partially better against Napoli last time out, even though Balotelli was key to that. Milan are 2.04 and that's good enough for me even with some absentees.

Roma are 1.97 to win at Sampdoria tonight, and I think the home side have got some serious issues this season. Take Roma to win here.

The final game of interest tonight is Granada v Valencia, and I'm looking at Valencia on the -0.25 handicap at 2.05. Yes Valencia got turned over by Betis but I'm not sure many saw that one coming. Valencia bounced back with a 3-1 win against Sevilla and combined with the fact that Granada can't score this season, I think puts the odds in favour of an away win.