West Ham tries to overcome Bolton disappointment

Soccer Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last weekend's 2-1 loss at home against fellow relegation-strugglers Bolton did not sit well with West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola.

But he is calling on his team to recover and pull off a stunning win at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea on Saturday, which would move the Hammers closer to safety.

West Ham is currently three points above the bottom three with 27 points, and Zola has said that he believes 37 or 38 points will be enough to ensure survival.

With that in mind, last weekend's loss is even more frustrating because in the eyes of the manager they gave away a great chance at adding to their point total, something that will be difficult to do with away games at Chelsea and Arsenal the next two weeks.

"We have to pick ourselves up and go again this week as we have a massive game to come at Chelsea," Zola told the club's official website.

"I told the players that we lost three points that we should have won and we need to get them back as soon as possible. I don't care that we are playing Chelsea on Saturday or Arsenal after that. We are going to go to Stamford Bridge and fight for our lives. I have no doubt about that."

Zola's men have lost three of their last five games with two more tough matches in the near future, but one thing that will help their cause on Saturday is a goalkeeping crisis for Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti.

With first-choice keeper Petr Cech sidelined by a calf injury, Ancelotti no doubt was disappointed to see backup netminder Hilario suffer an abductor injury in last Sunday's 2-0 win over Stoke City in an FA Cup quarterfinal.

Those injuries have forced Chelsea to turn to Ross Turnbull and Rhys Taylor in goal, with that duo likely to have to play against Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Chelsea has lost two of its last three games in the Premiership, which has dropped the club two points behind Manchester United in the league table.

Ancelotti's men have a game in hand on United, but they must return to winning ways with Arsenal also carrying 61 points into this weekend's games.

The Gunners will visit the KC Stadium to face second-from-the-bottom Hull City, while fourth-placed Tottenham hosts Blackburn.

Manchester City is level on 49 points with Spurs and they visit Sunderland, Birmingham entertains Everton, Wigan travels to Bolton with both sides in the bottom half of the league, Wolverhampton and Burnley meet up at Turf Moor and Aston Villa invades Stoke City.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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