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These two teams played a few very efficient Champions League games, but I don't see any reason for this one to be productive. Galatasaray have a new coach who demands discipline and who wants a good outcome to keep the spirits high. Arsenal are here to get this game over with, hoping to be as better prepared as possible for the weekend to come. The visitors are hit with problems in offense, with Campbell and Podolski out of shape and I don't think they will play a very exciting game, especially because both those players can't wait to leave Arsenal. The defense line is virtually unchanged, with only Bellerin as the not normally being in the line-up.
The home team recorded two unders and one over since Hamzaoglu took over. We need to note that the under was the toughest of their games, while their Cup game with the reshuffled team boost the average. There were red cards, penalty kicks in that Cup game.
Stats aren't backing me up on this (even though Galatasaray have an average of 2.50 goals in the championship, while Arsenal played three unders in the last 4 games), but I think smaller stake is worth going for here. Details

Reggio Emilia are quite good in defense. Zaragoza are quite good in defense. This is an extremely important game which is why I'm surprised that the margin is set higher than I've expected. A defeat would see Emilia end their Eurocup bid, this game is like a final to them. They played Paris home (150 points), Strasbourg (125), Bamberg (137), and the weakest defense of this group Telekom Bonn (169). Also, we need to point out that 5 out of their last 6 games were unders (both Italian championship and Europe). Their first head-to-head game ended at 172 points, which probably resulted in this margin, but we need to know that Zaragoza won the first quarter back then 30-6, setting the course of the game early on. Zaragoza struggled with Eurocup road games a lot, especially against offense-oriented teams such as Bonn, Paris, Bamberg. Their game with the tough Strasbourg ended under this margin (74-74) and I expect a similar outcome today. The motivation is running high, the stakes are even higher, and neither team prefer fast-paced games. Details

High handicaps are normally not the best thing to go with but the time seems right for it today. Barcelona just lost their first game this season, which should affect their motivation even more (other than the fact this is the Catalan derby match will and the championship derby since Granollers lag just three points behind). Pascual's team normally don't play their best game in the championship, but always manage to find motivation for the best of opponents. Their game against Logrono away confirmed it. Barcelona opened the game with a 5-0 run to get 9 points up by half-time and win 34-23 in the end. I think Granollers are not as good as Longrono, who lost to Kiel by 4 and 2 goals, beat Zagreb, Metalurg, Meškov home and so on...
Barcelona are unstoppable home this season, with only Wisla managing to lose to them by lower goal-deficit than this one there. Champions League defending champions Flensburg lost by 9. Barcelona won all the other championship games by at least 13 goals and I think the margin was never this low for their championship game since the dissolution of Ciudad Real. Granollers got 23 out of the possible 26 points in the championship, but their form is worsening. They were hit by injuries lately and everyone is looking forward to the break to be able to prepare for the second part of the season. They struggled with Huesca, Genil, Sagunto recently and all of them are either mid-table or bottom-part of the table teams. They also barely managed to beat Sportin in EHF Cup. The home game with Zamora is the priority for Granollers, since they know bringing Barcelona down is mission impossible. The visitors are the best defense in the league, but that won't mean much to Barcelona. The handicap is too low for 2-3 goals. Granollers could limit the deficit to less than ten points only if Barcelona underrates them greatly, which is not very likely given the outcome of their Saturday game. Details

I think the Spanish champions are better and more experienced than the Belgian championship runner-ups. The Spaniards are definitely the favorite for advancing to the next round. All positions in the team are very good - they are a team they have been undefeated for a long time. Since they dominate the Spanish championship, I'm sure they put a lot more effort into preparing the European match. The coach in charge at Charleroir is Spanish and has five Spaniards on the team. But Logrono's players are a bit more experienced and better. Also, Charlerior played a tough match last weekend to lose in five sets to Kieldrecht, the defending champion in Beligum. It's a team that beat Barcelona to advance in Challenge Cup second round, losing only a set in two matches. Logrono beat that team less convincingly than Kieldrech early November, which is another reason I think the Spanish team will do better today. Details

Denain promised to work harder on defense ahead of the season and for now seem to be keeping their promise. Even in preseason games, that have no importance what so ever, Denain played 6 unders at this margin in 8 games. Saint-Quentin and Lille were the only teams with which they played overs. Denain went under in three out of their 4 game in the first stage of the Leaders Cup. They are the second best defense in the league, conceding 69.22 points per game. Monaco have a very tough defense too. They recorded 5 out of 7 unders in preseason, one in Cup, one in four Leaders Cup games. Since they got knocked out of the Leaders Cup, it's questionable how hard they even tried there. They are the third best defense in the league, conceding 69.55 points per game. So where is this margin coming from? Perhaps from the last results of both teams - Denain's game with Le Portel ended with 174 points, with Antibbes at 186. Monaco's games with Poitiers ended with 181 points, with Chaerleville wtih 90 and with Saint-Quentin at 88...I don't expect anything so productive in their head-to-head meeting. Denain went over only with the offense-oriented teams in home games, Monaco as well. Even when they scored 90 against Cherleville, the game ended under 147.5. Other matches these two teams played were very tough battles and I expect something like it today. Details

Poitiers were promoted to Ligue B after spending two seasons in the third division and built a very interesting team. Setter Halilović (Ajaccio, Cannes), opposite Krolis (Paris Volley), Rogerio (Narbonne), well experienced Duhagon (captain at Montpellier for years), Sabljak (Nica, Croatian national team), Demirović (Chaumont) joined. Poitiers didn't have the best start to the season, but the last few matches proved they made progress. They won the last five matches to go spot four in the table. Nice got on the verge of promotion to Ligue A last season, but lost to Tourcoing in the play off finals 3-1. A few players left since, but good substitutes stepped in. The fact Nice won 20 out of the last 21 home matches sounds amazing. But, they will have to do without their first choice opposite today. Ristić is the number one player at Nice and won't be able to play today with an injury. Poitiers are in fine form, a win would see them move up to spot three in the table, and I think they are better than the home team that are weaker without Ristic. Poitiers should not be this underrated. Details