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The key thing for Brussels is that they kept Serge Crevecoeur as their coach, and he has anything but a defensive style, shown clearly last year, and continuing along the same path in preseason. Against Le Portel they lost 88-89, then again 91-103, against Liege 70-90, vs Spirou 75-96, against Hagen 108-111 and 90-99. They managed to play an over 160 match even against Frankfurt. Antwerp are also a team that favors a faster pace and definitely stronger on offense than on defense. For example, they lost 80-83 against Trier during preparations, then against Göttingen 95-98, Oostende scored 103 against them in the Supercup. Last year Brussels and Antwerp stayed below 164 only once (158), and their last match ended 120-110 in regular time. Against the defensively focused Liege in the first round of the championship they won 79-78. Brussels did not play the first round, today is the start of the championship for them, and I think this margin is worth playing on over, as it might rise significantly in the rest of the season. Details

Nimes lost a few consecutive games, while Istres played a draw with Chambery (who missed a seven-meter throw in the final seconds), which immediately resulted in the promoted team being given the role of the favorite. I think Istres are still number one candidate for relegation, with Nimes being better quality-wise. Those games Nimes lost were defeats to Cesson, Dunkerue, Chambery, and the defeat to PSG home. Teams much better than them would drop points against those opponents. They are completely ready and motivated for this game, knowing just how important these points are. Besides, Istres lost to Tremblay home convincingly, and Nimes destroyed Tremblay in the season opener home. The visting team are struggling with injuries, but none of them are crucial for their performance. Out of all the injured players, only middle back Rahim is somewhat important. But they have two other solutions for that position. Nimes are the better team of the two, and today's game will prove that. Details

Bern and Gossau are both in a rather nasty situation, points-wise, but there is a huge difference in quality between them. The point is that Bern haven't given their best performances yet this season, while Gossau cannot parry most of the first league teams even with their best performance, especially in away matches which are their sore spot. Today we have a situation in which the home team simply must win, and Bern's coach is eager for a quality performance, not just point. As one of the poorer teams, Gossau should be just what the doctor ordered after a few disappointing scores, and a rather decisive victory by a significantly better team seems realistic. Details

Flensburg struggle with efficiency quite a lot, not having scored more than 31 goals in any of the 13 official games they did this season. They scored more than 29 in only 2 of those 13. And their opponents were a colorful bunch starting with Brazilian Taubate, the teams from Qatar, and finally the German second tier Erlangen that conceded only 27 goals against Flensburg away. On the other hand, their defense is doing very well, except for that bad performance that got them destroyed in Denmark. They're better home, having conceded 23, 22, 17, and 21 goals home this season. They're more than capable of preventing Wisla from scoring a lot of goals. The Polish team have been focusing on their defense this season more, which resulted in only 47 goals scored in their head-to-head meeting with Besktas, and in 50 goals from their last championship game...They went to Barcelona to take on the Catalan team only three days ago and did quite well, limiting the opponent to only 30 goals. Not many teams are capable of that. Cadenas knows that beating Flensburg away without excellent defense performance is mission impossible. Besides, this is a fight for the runner up position in the group. Since it's very important for both teams, I don't see how more than 55 goals could be scored in this game... Details

I was hoping for greater odds at this handicap, but I think these are still more than good and worth opting for. Fyllingen opened the season brilliantly, having beaten Haslum and BSK, but then went on to do disappointingly in the three following games. This team have the potential to fight for top spots, and I think they will soon get back on the winning track. Runar are a great opportunity for that, being the weakest defense in the league, not playing a well-organized game, and having had the previous game only three days ago. The coach says his key players are tired, which brings the number of reasons to opt for this bet to four. Fyllingen had a week off to rest and enough time to prepare for Runar, who used up a lot of energy against Elverum. A sure win for Fyllingen would be an excellent choice as well, but I'm sure they can cover this handicap. Details

Ulm's problems are well known - they can't count on their top player Gunther, without whose help Ulm lost the first round game home to Oldenburg. But, they managed to make it right by win in Frankfurt on Sunday. Their game is bound to get better as the season advances because they have 8 new players on the team. Since they have to do 4 rounds in only 10 days, we should not expect any great developments in their game just yet. Ulm lost the head-to-head preseason meeting with Braunschweig 76-77. The opponent had the chance for a more convincing win in that game. Braunschweig lost the season opener in Trier, but the win over Brose only two days later proved that the defeat in Trier was nothing but a bad day. Braunschweig did well in preseason, better than Ulm anyway. I don't think Ulm are good enough to win by 10 or more points today. Details

The Hungarian team got a chance to make up for the first round defeat against Partizan, but this time on home court. They have plenty of motive, and I believe they'll try to show their true potential in front of a home crowd. Both teams struggled with scoring and played low scoring matches in the last round. The biggest advantage of the home team is that their players are rested, unlike Metalac, who have been travelling all over the region, and that will be a factor in this match. I expect a tough match with aggression on both sides, but with a low point total. The overall under seems like a good option too, but I decided on Metalac under since I don't trust them. An away match in Szolnoki would not be an easy task for any team, especially not for one newly arrived to the league. Details

There are a lot of reasons to go for this bet. Samara will be relying on defense for the most part at season's start as they did in preseason due to all the changes the team underwent. 6 out of their 9 games ended under 147 points, with most of them ending under 130. Their only overs were game with Slovenia's Helios, but mostly because they scored 92 ( 154 point in total), with Zagreb (153), and Zenit in the final preparation game. Zenit's games tend to end with a higher number of points scored. This is their first official game, and the aforementioned changes will require more time for offense to start functioning properly and for the team to find rhythm. Nymburg have already done quite a few games. They went over this margin with offense oriented Hapoel and Zenit, but their games against Usti (Czech league) and Kuban (VTB) finished as unders. They were an offense-oriented team the last few seasons, but that is not the case this season. We should note something Zenit's coach pointed out ahead of their head-to-head game. He said that Nymburk aren't fast because they have a number of older players on the team, and they can't keep up with the fast pace. This is a second game in only three days for Nymburk, they've done a lot of travelling as well, and fatigue will definitely be an important element of this game, preventing Nymburk from setting a crazy fast pace. Details

I expect a proper battle in Moscow today, and would not be surprised to see it go to five sets. Belgorod won 3-1 against Zenit, but the team from Kazakhstan were utterly crippled by injuries and still managed to get a set. Dynamo are missing only Zaytsev, but I would not call that an absence as he has not made an appearance yet. Dynamo have Kruglov, Biryukov, Shcherbinin and Holt, which makes them anything but harmless, especially in front of their own crowd. The season just started, neither of the teams are in top form and I expect plenty of ups and downs from both of them. Guessing the winner would be witchcraft, but the margin on offer seems too low to me. We can see 183 points in four sets, both teams have their strengths and I expect a very close match. Details

Federer has an 8-3 score at this tournament, and managed to cover this handicap only once. He only played at the Davis Cup since the US Open, it's the end of the season, and I don't expect him to have a wild start. This is primarily a case of underestimating Mayer. The Argentinian just got in the Top 25 and is playing the best he ever had. Although he never played against the Swiss, I doubt he'll get scared, he's just not the type. After all, he won close to 30 ATP matches this season and is looking forward to seed status at the Australian Open. Here he already won a match, his serve is working well, and the conditions are rather quick, as most people have been saying for year. The worst case scenario: Federer gets one break per set, which is a common scenario in his matches. Details

The fact is, Imotski aren't doing great, especially not home.They won only once and lost the other five home games, but now meet a team that are in an even worse shape. Segesta can't count on first line up players in defense, midfield, and offense, and the fact their top scorer Hrncevic is still out remains their main problem. Segesta didn't not score a single goal in the last three games. The home team can count on all of their players, they got very close to winning last round in Bistra, and it's high time they started taking advantage of the home games. Wounded Segesta are the best possible opponent for it. Details

Playing a handicap bet on the inconsistent Eraković might seem insane at first, but there are plenty of reasons. Koukalova showed nothing worth mentioning in the first round, nothing being the best description of her game. She seemed disinterested, her body language negative and she scored a victory only because of her opponent's inexperience. She had too many ups and downs, and the fact she won just 56% of her first serve points with seven double faults does not speak in her favor either. While she offered 15 break points in 16 serve games, Eraković managed to keep her serve in 12 of her 14 serving games. She did equally well on both serves and has six aces to her name. She also played rallies much better than Koukalova, the surface fits her perfectly, she easily gets the initiative with her forehand and makes few errors. Koukalova on the other hand makes too many errors and easily gets into a series of mistakes. She will lose her serve quickly, since Eraković will get into the field on the return just like Siniakova, which means Koukalova will lose her nerve and game. Eraković showed really good tennis indoors, and should not have a hard time covering this handicap. Details