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There is not much to say here. We have a usual match of a team that is in excellent shape against a team who loses everything. In addition, the home team has the motivation, they need to fight for the third place that leads to Europe, while Jaro fulfilled their objective two months ago. They gave their maximum at the start and it happened that Jyvaskyla had problems so they managed to remain in the league again. Now they have nothing to play for anymore. Lahti should easily get the points, especially when we take into consideration the fact their top scorer is back after three matches. Details

There are three main reasons why Kazan should win convincingly in this game. The first is the fact that they are a better team than the guests, and they have not lost at home yet . On the last away tour they managed to win in a very tough away games against Prague and Riga, which is a good indicator that they are capturing the right form. This applies especially to the defense game. For seven games in a row they did not receive more than two goals (average 1.67). Another reason is the form of their goalkeeper. Kazan's duo Barulin-Garipov shared the third place in the league with a percentage of saves (94.6) and it does not matter which one of them will start today. In the goalkeeping segment, Severstal is certainly in a subordinate position. The third reason is the form. Severstal has so far lost all three matches away, and the only victory it reached at home was against the poor Dinamo Minsk and the impressioned Medvescak. They were always losing at home against a bit stronger opponents. Compared to the last year, they are significantly weakened, and now can not count on two of their four best defenders. Kazan is probably the strongest team in the east and the strongest club with which Severstal meets this season. The hosts have rested, and are certainly motivated in front of their fans, and I think that it will be difficult to avoid a convincing defeat. When Kazan is concerned, it is always a good option to play a team set under Severstal, but practically it is always profitable to play only on the margin of 1.5 goals. So handicap acts as a better option. Details

There is no need to introduce Slavia with too many words as this is a team that showed a simply fantastic defensive play in the first five games, while the fact they have conceded only four goals so far can largely be attributed to their amazing goaltender Furch who is at 97.24%. Chomutov, with the exception of four goals against defensively poor Trinec, went over this margin only once, against Sparta at home, but they only managed to score that third goal two minutes before the end, after Sparta opened up completely. Nothing similar should happen today, since I don't expect for the Prague team to find themselves chasing Chomutov's lead. Besides, an indicator that Slavia's defensive play doesn't suit the Pirates is the last season, in which Ruzicka's team won all four games against Chomutov with a 17-2 goal difference! Details

If there is a conclusion to be drawn from the first few rounds it's the fact that neither Poprad nor Trencin will have a great season in terms of defense. Trencim have well-known problems, and apart from 2-3 more experienced players the rest are all inexperienced guys with little or no experienced and not even the experienced Lasak can fix that. Poprad's goalies Sidor and Srnec are no good and their defense is not looking impressive. Above all, Poprad concede 3.9 goals on average each game, and Trencin concede 3.27, bearing in mind that they average 4 conceded goals when away. The offense is a much better aspect for both teams. Poprad are lead by the experienced Krotak, followed by Jabrocky, Mlynarovic, Takac and they have got their confidence when they demolished Orange 20 yesterday. Dukla's offense is lead by the world champions Pavlikovsky and Petrovicky, along with Kominek and T. Klima, and are capable of scoring 1-2 goals against each team, which has been their M.O. so far. The ice rink in Poprad is narrower than anywhere else and there is no room for hesitation and they players need to be quick with the puck which means the more inexperienced guests might have problems there. To conclude, both teams have had over 5.5 goals in four of their last five games which speaks volumes about their game style. Details

This is a match of two players that are both top 5 in world judging by their serve. The match is played in fast indoor conditions, and chances on the return should be rare. Especially in the beginning of the game until they find their rhythm on the return, which is not their forte. Raonic served 21 aces against Matosevic and had 90 percent of first serve points won. But he struggled on the return and only managed to break serve once. Lopez, on the other hand, after beating Djere defeated Go Soeda, and only allowed one break point, had 14 aces and 78 percent of first percent serve. It is obvious that both of them have a good serve, and the number of breaks is a good bet. Especially if we take into account that their last match at the USO, it would be a shame not to take this bet. Details

I don't see this match as a one-way road to the advantage of Uralochka. It seems to me the best choice is over, set for Maureen O'Hara is payed less, and one match without much smashing from either side brings this match to over. Uralochka played well at Dinamo from Moscow and lost in five sets so they will surely not look overly fresh today like they did in that match. Even more than that exhausting game I believe that the long trip which lasted more than half a day will have more effect on their performance today. A certain problem will also be the time difference. They played their final part of the preparations in Belarus, then they played in Moscow and today they will play in Ulan Ude, a city in the east of Russia which has a +5 hours time difference from Moscow. In addition to all that, the match is played at a completely different time from the one in the first round. Furthermore, Uralochka are weaker than last year, today's match will be missed by Ruiz, Zaryazhko and Jack. They were missing in the first round too but today their absences could be more influential because there will be fatigue in the team and they have a limited choice of players. Last season Uralochka didn't shine in away matches, finishing the regular season with a ratio of 4-7. The home team are not a harmless opponent at all, they will have a decent support in the stands as the arena will certainly be well filled. Their confidence grew with the win in the debut match in Superliga against Ufimochka in a dramatic duel in five sets. Today they will look for a surprise. Maureen O'Hara had more time to prepare for this match, they are not a bad team at all and have a number of players with Superliga experience. They confirmed their quality by their second place in the Siberia Cup in the beginning of the month where, among other teams, they won against the very strong Fakel with 3-0. According to the recent announcements, the Czech Pastulova will not appear today as well while the Uzbek Arslanbekova should start the match. I expect Maureen O'Hara to show a decent resistance and plays better than in the first round and makes this match unpredictable. They need to use the fatigue of Uralochka and the absences. The coach of the home team believes that this could be an even match. If everything goes as planned, over should happen here. Details

Delbonis can't play indoors. This quarter finals is the result of a favourable draw. First he beat a junior player with a wild card, then Pospisil lost the match agaainst him in a very unfortunate manner. The Canadian gave his opponent only one break-ball, but failed to break the Argentinian's serve (0/6 on break points). He succumbed to pressure in the tie-breaks, played nervously and lost the match. Melzer is too experienced to miss this opportunity. These are the Argentine's only two ATP wins of the season outside clay courts. The Austrian has the return and the game that comes to the fore in these conditions. He already beat one left-handed player in the second round and he will be ready for another one. I do not see how he can lose a set against the Argentine clay specialist who has already spent his luck in this tournament. Details

Dillon Gee has a huge motive in his last start of the season, and that is to finish it in style and break the barrier of 200 pitched innings for the first time in his career. Gee has made a huge turnaround this season, which began with the New York Yankees when he overturned 12 strikeouts, and has had a 10-4 ratio with 2.73 ERA. In the last ten games he has had a 5-2 with a 2.49 ERA ratio, while at Citi Field he recorded a 2.49 ERA. Against the Brewers he has a 0-2 ratio in his career, but only four batters from the current roster of Brewers saw this. This bet is based on another very important information, and that is the Brewers' injury list. In addition to being a long time without their best hitter and two other leading ones, they were left without their backbone Aramis Ramirez who injured his knee again and will not be returning until the end of the season. They also lost a striker Jean Segur who has the best hitting average . Details

This should be a cat-and-mouse game in Montpellier today. Nantes are missing four important backcourt players, which makes for more than half their team's strength. It's simply not the same Nantes anymore. Last season they played their last fixture at Montpellier. Nantes played without Entrerrios and Sayad, their two left backs, and lost 33-24. Those two are out for today's match as well, while Maqueda and Vujic have joined them on the sidelines. Their replacements don't have what it takes to confront Montpellier, who are the far superior team with the likes of Omeyer, Simonet, Accambray, Kavticnik, Dolenec, Gajic, Hmam and Tej in their ranks. Details

Rubin have a big problem ahead of this match and that is the absence of Rondon. He scored five out of eight Rubin's goals and they will be completely powerless in the offense without him. Their offense is not one of their stronger features anyway and without him it will look awful. I expect much more from Dynamo, more accurately I expect them to enter the title fight. Since they acquired the four Anzhi players they perhaps have the widest squad in the league and it is only a matter of time until they catch up with the leaders. In the last round they lost against Lokomotiv but they couldn't manage against the excellent Kuchuk's team and the referee (a clean goal ruled out at 0-0, a made-up penalty kick for Lokomotiv at 1-1). This is a match without favorites for me and I would even give a small advantage to Dynamo. Still I am not brave enough to play for a clear win because it is the rock defense of Rubin we are talking about which can play for days without conceding goals if they are set to do that so I will secure myself with an outcome without a draw. Details

Atlant has won nine games in a row vs Vityaz, of which only two in overtime, and statistics are always important. They won three home games in a row as well, they have changed their coach, shaken things up and their camp is announcing they will go for a win. They had two more days to rest than the guests, who played against CSKA, which might influence their speed and aggression on the ice. Vityaz have not been impressive away, scoring two extremely convincing losses so far and a win against the weak Slovan, and I see little chance for them here. The huge difference in quality, in all aspects, favors the home team. Along with all that, the guests are arriving without their captain Rybov, who is also their first center, and without starting lineup winger Shitikov as well, which could also be considered a handicap. Without two important offense players they will be weaker, they are more tired, and with all that aside, Atlant has a big advantage on home ice. These odds are a bit too high overall, and Atlant are the bigger favorites. Details

Amkar is in a great shape. Lately they recorded excellent results, and these results are not the result of chance. They defeated Spartak, and have created huge problems for CSKA Moscow. With Rubin they accepted the game to zero that culminated in the final round with a 3-0 victory against Kuban. It is certain that the morale of players is currently at a high level, and against a team that is in a psychological state such as Rostov, they will have to use it now. At the beginning of the season they were praised a lot, but it was clear that this would not last long. Lately they have been losing, and I do not think they will recover against Amkar. They realized where they were, and everything now points to their new defeat. Since the away game in Perm they instill fear even to the strongest teams, since Permian and Luzhniki stadiums are the only ones in Russia where the game is played on artificial turf. Their head-to-head games in Perm show just how problematic this game is for Rostov. Given the large number of undecided results, I choose a more cautious alternative. Details

Unlike in the first few rounds, both Traktor and Magnitogorsk significantly improved their defense. It looks much more coordinated and firmer, exactly according to the expectations ahead of the season because of the lineup and defensively orientated coaches. Traktor conceded only three goals in four matches since they returned to their arena. In the last round they left Sibir without goals. They are not so dominant in the offense, partially because of the injury of the main forward Kuznetsov. The goalie Michael Garnett didn't go under 94% of saves in that period. Another great goalie, Magnitogorsk's Koshechkin, also has the same percentage. So the away team conceded five goals in the last four rounds. In the last round they scored 6 against Amur and 4 against Admiral the round earlier but the defenses of those teams cannot be compared to Traktor's. In addition it should be noted that both Amur and Admiral were on long away tours which significantly improved the advantage of Magnitogorsk. Against Traktor they have a division derby which is usually very feisty. They have gone over the total of 5 goals only once in their last eight duels (in the preparation match). Details

Cole Hamels showed a lot in the second part of the season, and he should continue today against the worst offense in the league playing in desperate form. In his last 20 starts, Hamels has 2.96 ERA which is truly great. Today he will try to get his 100th career win. In his last 10 games Hamels has a 4-1 score with excellent 2.71 ERA. Away from home he was solid with a 3.40 ERA, while he is 9-12 with 3.16 ERA against Marlins. He has a great motive, a 100th career win, and a strong end to he season would mean a lot to him. In their last ten games, Miami has a 2,43 run average which is real bad, and it is important to point out they are worse against the lef-handed pitchers with a 2.18 run average. Hamels is better than Marlins at this point, no doubt about that, and it is hard to predict Marlins scoring 4 runs in this game. Details

After a point taken in the match against Chambery and beating Nimes, this match for Cesson is one of those nothing to lose situations. They demonstrated proves on the offense in the Chambery game, and have fared equally well against the division newcomers, Nimes who needed to win that match. With roster bustling with big names like Hansen, Narcisse, Kopljar, Abalooa, Vori and Csaszar, PSG's offensive options are innumerable. Against Minsk they scored 22 goals in the second half and such a game is expected today as well. Cesson are not a classically burly French handball team, with lighter backs (the brothers Briffe, Dore, Batinovic) who will not be able to stand up to PSGs offense, and I’m convinced they will go for easy goals and quick ball transition. Cesson are unchanged since last year, when they conceded 32 and 34 goals respectively. As the PSG defense is still not fully organized and does not instill much confidence, Cesson will give a helping hand to this over and we will probably see an over 60 goals match, possibly more. Details

Considering their high tempo, Rimbo are a special story in this season's Elitserien. This is a young team that compensates the lack of physical strength with speed. They have announced they will try to outrun their opponents in today's match. Two teams that are second to them when it comes to game tempo are Drott and Rimbo's today's opponents Skovde. Keeping in mind that the home team went on to play a 59-goal-match with Hammarby, who like to play in a somewhat slower tempo, then over 60 goals are expected in today's match. In the case of the home team, their tempo enables them to score so many goals, while the prevailing factor in the visiting team is pivot Arrhenius, a player that can create a lot of problems in Rimbo defence using his strength. However, it is clear that Skovde also have excellent players in counterattack, who are able to seize the opponents' mistakes caused by fast game, which only adds to the possibility of having many goals in the match. Expecting 62-63 goals, if not more, is being realistic. This spring, the matches in Kvalserien with Malmo ended with 70 and 74 goals, while the one with the more defence-oriented Vasteras ended on 63 goals, so there is no reason not to think that they will repeat the same feat today against a more offensive-oriented Skovde team. Details

Although derbies are hardest to predict, here the power ratio between the host and guest cannot be ignored. Helsingborg enters in the season finale in far worse shape than in the spring, victories are merely trickling, and they were shamed by weak Syrianska in the previous round. Their defense is a disgrace for a top team in the league as evidenced by 12 goals allowed in the last five games, and even more interesting is the fact that they lost mainly against the teams struggling to avoid relegation or are at the bottom part of the table. Today they will miss a very important offensive weapon Khalili, and will be replaced by Bouaouzan, a forward who spent past six months in rehab after a serious injury and is questionable in what of state he is now. On the other hand, guests are full of confidence, lately doing an excellent job as candidates for the title. Defensively, Malmo is a far more stable team, and this role fits them great. Helsingborg will today be under pressure to win and if things do not go according to plan, they will have to play open until the end, and Malmo takes advantage of these situations. HIF is not a slight favorite as bookmakers suggest, moreover, Malmo is a better and more convincing team, but as this match is deemed a derby, a handicap covering the tie is the best. Details

Bjerringbro enter this match without Jakobsen, Madsen and their first goalkeeper Green, which means they are quite weakened in the defensive line. However, attack-wise, having an excellent back line that features Kjelling - Jorgensen - Mads Christiansen, along with reliable wings and a strong pivot Kristjansson, they can meet the requirements of the match. In four rounds they only have one under at 51.5 margin, and it was against the best defence of the league, Kolding, in the match that saw Kolding win 26-25 . Holstebro are known as a defensive team but they haven't had much luck in this arena, having conceded 30 or more goals in 6 of the last 7 matches. Now they arrive with two back-to-back matches over 51.5 margin so there is no reason for today's match to end with 50 goals or less. Moreover, Holstebro's best back-court player, Michael Damgaard, returned to the lineup, scoring 5 goals against Kolding. Details

This margin is partly the result of the first round matches. Still, I think we will see something different today. The match is incredibly important, one of the key ones in a group like this and I don't think we will watch a very offensive game. Dinamo conceded 34 goals in Paris, 22 of which in the second half. They played defense really well in the first part and conceded only 12 goals thanks to the goalkeeper Pejanovic. They won against AEK 25-21 and Tatran 29-27 in the qualification tournament in Presov. Those matches were similar in importance to this one. They went over this margin only against Barcelona (28-30) in the six home matches last year. It was the last round match in the group stage, which made no difference. That Dinamo is a bit different that this one, but I don't think Denic can count on winning any points here is he concedes close to 30 goals. Vardar went through even bigger changes, but their back line is not as strong and that could cause problems. This margin is quite high I think, and I doubt the match will be decided on more than 55 goals. Details

I can't help but to think that Italy are being overrated and their opponents and their abilities are being overlooked. The Italians have played their best match yet against the Netherlands, and were impressive in the block, a feat that they are probably not going to pull off again today. A big issue is Savani's injury because he is the most experienced played in the team having played on the Euro five times. Vettori had a good match as his substitute, but when he plays Zaytsev moves to the receiver position. The game against the Netherlands was not easy, but it provided a boost of confidence. Finland, on the other hand, rested and analyzed their next opponent. Their coach Sammelvuo is known as a great analyst and his scouting of opponents is superb. They have been playing together for a long time, they like to play fast volleyball and it will be interesting to see how the Italian block will react. Sivula has had a great tournament, while the setter Esko, receiver Slitala and middle blocker Oivanen have over 200 caps for their national team each. That could prove to be a decisive factor since the Italians have 8 debutants, and Savani's injury is also a blow. Berruto was Finland's main coach from 2005 to 2010 and knows them well. They are teams of even strength and we are probably going to see a close match. Tensions will be high because after this match there is no re-do. Last year at the Olympics Italy won 3-2, but considering everything, betting on the handicap for Finland seems the best option. Details