Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas came out fighting after watching his side crumble 3-1 to an impressive Napoli side in the Champions League first knock-out round.

The Portuguese insisted he picked the right side, despite leaving out Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole and Fernando Torres – a clear sign that he is keen to take on a dressing room that has wielded too much influence than is healthy in the recent past.

“You can have your opinion but it was based on what was the best team in my thoughts,” he said.

“We will analyse strongly what we did wrongly because a couple of things need to get better. It is not impossible to recover from 3-1.”

“I had a conversation with Ashley and Frank. Through the players that they are and the players with the experience they have, they felt they could have helped the team,” added Villas-Boas.

“That’s perfectly understandable.”

The final part of the quote suggests Cole and Lampard made their feelings known about their demotion, providing a real test of the manager’s authority.

With their premier league odds growing by the day given the 17 point deficit between themselves and the leaders and a tricky FA Cup fifth-round replay away to Birmingham coming up on 6 March, the Champions League could be the only trophy left to win when they host Napoli in the second leg on March 14.

But punters who bet on the Champions League are hardly flooding to back the Blues after their first leg display, which could have been a lot worse than the eventual 3-1 scoreline.

The silence from the Chelsea board is deafening, though the news that Roman Abramovich has been to training and held meetings with the players is not good news for Villas-Boas. You do wonder though just what benefit Abramovich can bring, he is no football manager, he simply has a lot of money. And while that can buy you pretty much whatever you want, it can’t guarantee success at football, something he clearly doesn’t like given his tendency to fire managers the moment they don’t deliver instant success.

Maybe after churning though seven managers in eight years Abramovich could look elsewhere for the root of the problem, namely the players – or even himself for causing such instability by changing the man at the top so regularly?

It seems to me that Chelsea need to go through a painful spell of regeneration, where new players replace the old. But there is fierce resistance to go through that change, stemming mainly from the senior players, meaning they continue to stand on the precipice, with successive managers coming and going, merely adding to the problems.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed club legend Thierry Henry will leave the club on February 16.

Henry rejoined Arsenal on a two-month loan in January but will now return to New York Bulls two weeks earlier than expected. Whilst disappointed to lose Henry, Wenger appreciates it is New York’s prerogative to recall the striker.

Wenger said: “I would have loved Thierry to stay for two more weeks but he has to go back. It’s only fair on New York.”

Henry will be available for Arsenal’s weekend trip to Sunderland and the first leg of their Champions League tie against AC Milan at the San Siro next Wednesday will be his last live football in an Arsenal shirt (unless he comes back next year!).

The 34-year-old was scheduled to face Sunderland again in the FA Cup and bid farewell to the Arsenal faithful against bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the end of February.

Arsenal’s record goalscorer’s last act at the Emirates Stadium was to round off Arsenal’s emphatic victory over Blackburn Rovers with a deflected last-minute strike.

After a promising start against Leeds United in the FA Cup, Henry has had a limited impact on his return to the club where he made his name. He has yet to start a game and missed Arsenal’s match against Manchester United through injury.

Arsenal must now push on in search of the final Champions League spot without their former talisman, but will be confident as long as their current lynchpin stays fit. With Robin van Persie fit and firing, Arsenal have every chance, despite the Champions League betting suggesting punters do not rate their chances.

Henry will resume his New York Bulls career when the MLS season kicks off on March 10. It remains to be seen whether he can motivate himself again in America away from the limelight.

Over the years, the NFL has been lucky enough to witness the development of several intense and entertaining rivalries, from the divisional rivalry between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks, to the numerous conference rivalries between sides that know towards the end of the season they’ll be fighting it out to earn a place in the Super Bowl – something which has delighted those looking to bet on NFL.

Until now, however, there hadn’t really been a serious cross-conference rivalry that pitted an NFC franchise against an AFC one.

With the Giants and the Patriots now a match-up that everyone interested in American Football looks forward to witnessing, perhaps the only thing that we’re still missing is the opportunity to watch them clashing on a more regular and reliable basis (oh, and we’re also missing the chance to watch the Giants take on the Patriots in a Super Bowl for which they’re the favourites to win!) With the Giants triumphing on both occasions in recent years in the Super Bowl against the Pats, the NFL has reaped the benefits of proving that neither division in the sport is weaker than the other, which hasn’t been the case traditionally.

Had the Patriots won on both occasions, the NFC would once again have appeared on the surface to be significantly weaker than the AFC. The worldwide appeal of the game has, however, been boosted by the competitive, and unpredictable, nature of the clashes.

Whatever the future holds for these two franchises, the continued development of this new rivalry will certainly be appreciated by those who want to earn more money for the NFL and those looking to capitalise on NFL bets!

Melbourne Heart defeated their local rivals and bitter enemy Melbourne Victory 3-2 last week to boost their chances of success in the Hyundai A-League – and it was a game of two Thompson’s with Victory taking the lead through Archie Thompson, only for Matt to strike back with a brace of his own just before the break.

Their lead was extended by substitute Alex Terra on the hour-mark, but a late Carlos Hernandez strike provided little consolation for the visitors, who had began the game highly fancied by those giving out soccer betting tips – and the result left Victory captain Adrian Leijer feeling a sense of having missed an opportunity:

“It’s disappointing for the fans more than anything because we know how much it means to them. We started off very well and probably should have been two-up, then they got a goal on the counter-attack and it changed the whole game.”

The game was a tough one to officiate from the first whistle with referee Strebre Delovski having to make a number of contentious decisions.

In the fifth-minute Archie Thompson was brought down by Heart keeper Clint Bolton and only dished out a yellow card when vast areas of the bumper crowd were baying for a red; there was a strong case for offside when Matt Thompson scored his second, and also a potential handball in the build-up to Terra’s decisive third goal.

Victory certainly had their chances to win the match and the live soccer betting favored the Blues for much of the game, with Hernandez first setting up Isaka Cernak’s with a perfectly-weighted through-ball in the 55th minute, only to see his shot brilliantly tipped wide by Bolton, and then he buried pinpoint header which was subsequently disallowed for offside.

The result leaves Victory languishing in sixth-spot, some way off the early pace being set by Central Coast, and they now have the opportunity to set things straight when they play Brisbane Roar in their New Year’s Eve fixture at the Suncorp Stadium.

Two Manchester United legends have spoken out about the club’s current situation, with the pair offering contrasting advice to manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Former skipper Paul Ince feels the Red Devils need to invest in a striker during the January transfer window in order to support Wayne Rooney.

Rooney, a leading contender in the Premiership top scorer betting, has hit14 goals in 19 games this season, with Nani the next top scorer on seven.

However, Ince fears that an over-reliance on the former Everton striker will prove counterproductive and could in fact damage Rooney’s form.

“There is a lot of pressure on Rooney and we saw what that did to him in the World Cup,” said Ince.

“If you are going to compete with the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea you need someone who is going to score you 20 goals a season and you can’t just rely on Wayne Rooney to do it year in and year out.”

Nicky Butt meanwhile – a former team-mate of Ince – believes the club’s young players will recover from their recent ‘blip’ and will all the more stronger for it.

Butt came through the United ranks along with a number of other talented young players including David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers.

They formed the spine of the team that defied the soccer betting bounced back from losing the title to Arsenal in 1998 to win a magnificent treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – despite Alan Hansen’s famous quote “you can’t win anything with kids”.

Butt clearly retains faith in his old manager Sir Alex Ferguson to help the current generation to develop.

“They haven’t got the experienced players, they have young players and they started the season pretty well but they’re having their first blip now,” said the 36-year-old.

“Everyone goes through that in their careers and it’s up to them to prove they are good enough to play for this club.

“You’re there to be shot at when you play for a big club and they have to accept that,” he added. “They have to take it from certain people and maybe deserve that.

“Maybe they deserve a bit of a kick up the backside but with the people they’ve got around them and the manager they’ve got there, they’ll be okay with that.”

Although the pain and hurt from previous failure will never be erased from the Irish memory banks, they have been masked by the joy of reaching Euro 2012.

The Republic’s 1-1 draw with Estonia in Dublin on Tuesday was a mere formality after their thumping 4-0 first leg win in Tallinn on Friday evening.

It means they have reached their first European Championships since their one and only appearance in 1988 and their first tournament of any kind since the 2002 World Cup.

Since that tournament in Japan and South Korea it has been tales of play-off heartaches for Irish fans, with the most frustrating being their clash with France in November 2009, where Thierry Henry’s blatant handball set up an extra time winner for France, with neither linesman nor referee spotting the clear infringement. True, it made for some of the most dramatic Live Football matches of recent years, but that proved scant consolation for those of a Gaelic persuasion.

Henry and co joined Spain, Holland, Turkey and Belgium as conquerors of the Irish at the play-off stage, with only a win over Iran to qualify for World Cup 2002 the bright spot among the play0ff gloom.

Until now that is. After years of having to Watch Football Live from their armchairs the Irish are now able to dig out their passports and plan for a trip to Poland and the Ukraine, with the prospect of playing England in the group stages a real possibility.

Speaking after the game in Dublin boss Giovanni Trapattoni couldn’t hide his delight, saying: “I am very, very proud for many reasons. We came here with an important objective.

“We have started the last campaign in a difficult group with Italy and then we had France, and we could have achieved qualification.
“But we started again and we have discovered new important options in terms of players. They have shown how important they have been for us.

“We have improved our quality, like against Russia. We have started again with new mentality and the players believe in our system.”
“I like the Irish people. I live in a little village and it is like Ireland.

“For me, it is like my life in Italy. For this reason, I am proud. I understand what the Irish people wish for and for this reason, I am very, very happy.”

The more cynical Arsenal supporters are suggesting he is playing for a new contract or worse, a move. Others are hoping he is revelling in his role as captain, leader and main source of inspiration in an Arsenal team still recovering from a bruising start to the season. Either way, there is no stopping Robin Van Persie right now.

A 4-3 horror show of a defeat to Blackburn in September left Gunners fans wondering whether the season was to be spent languishing in mid-table, a comfortable position for some, but not for a side who haven’t been out of the top four since 1996.

But the club have quietly begun to re-build the season, winning eight of their last nine games in all competitions since the disaster at Ewood– the sole defeat coming against north London rivals Tottenham.

The inspiration on the revival is undoubtedly Dutch striker Van Persie, who has hit 12 goals already this season, taking his Premier League tally for the calendar year to an astounding 28 in 27 games, justifying his tag as a favourite in the Premiership top scorer betting.

He also seems to be thriving in the role of captain, with the summer departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri leaving him as the obvious senior choice to take the armband. He is taking leading by example to a whole new level.

He isn’t alone in the Gunners’ quiet revolution, Aaron Ramsey has made great strides this season, almost revelling in the spotlight made free by the departures of Fabregas and Nasri. Theo Walcott, almost written off last season, has made great strides and is beginning to resemble the player we all thought he would be when he burst into the Southampton team six years ago.

The run-away Manchester clubs suggests that Arsenal’s lengthy premier league odds are justified – and Wenger himself has already ruled out the title, something he doesn’t usually do until mid-April. But their performance at Chelsea gave them the real belief that they could compete with the best in the country again – something that 8-2 hammering by United in August took away.

The key now for Arsenal fans is sustaining the run and thus ensuring their leader and main source of inspiration is happy to commit his future to the club, with the looming presence of money-bags Man City a growing concern.