12/04/2008 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has reaffirmed his desire to remain with the Gunners following speculation linking him with AC Milan.
The 21-year-old midfielder was reported to be interested in joining Milan after revealing his admiration for the Italian side in a newspaper interview.
But the recently-installed captain, who has a long-term contract at the Emirates Stadium, insists he is not considering leaving the Gunners.
"It is true that I said I admire Milan for their rich history and the way they play football but that is as far as the story goes," he told the club's official website. "I am honored to be wearing the captain's armband for Arsenal and I am 100 percent committed to this club.
"My future is here."
Meanwhile, manager Arsene Wenger has received some mixed injury news ahead of Saturday's visit of Wigan Athletic.
Former skipper William Gallas has been ruled out with the calf problem picked in last weekend's win at Chelsea, but fellow central defender Kolo Toure has shrugged off a similar injury and could return.
Defender Johan Djourou is also available following a hip knock, while Emmanuel Eboue could return to the bench after a five-week absence due to a knee injury.
"We have certainly lost Gallas for Saturday but we have of course Mikael Silvestre, who will be available," confirmed Wenger.
"We have Kolo Toure available again and he is more suited to playing on the right side [of central defense]. We will see until Saturday how well he is.
"Eboue could be back in the group and [Abou] Diaby could be available from next week onwards. Djourou is fine."
(Courtesy of sportbox.tv)
<< Xavi agrees to new deal with Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona midfielder Xavi has confirmed
that he has agreed a new contract that will see him play out the rest of his
career at the Camp Nou.
The 28-year-old Spain international had been linked with
<< Barry to remain tight-lipped until end of season
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry is
not planning to make any more comments on his future until the end of the
season.
The England international was widely expected to leave Villa Park and si
<< NFLPA files lawsuit to block suspensions
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NFL Players Association filed a
lawsuit Thursday, challenging the suspensions of five players levied earlier
this week for violations of the league's steroids policy.
New Orleans' Charles Gr
<< Saints place S Kaesviharn on IR
Metairie, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Saints placed veteran safety
Kevin Kaesviharn on the reserve/injured list Thursday with a neck injury,
effectively ending his season.
Head coach Sean Payton described the injury as a s
Goya leads Canadian event by two shots >>
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Estanislao Goya fired a six-under
65 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Argentine
Masters at Olivos Golf Club.
Josh McCumber is alone in second place at minus-four.
NFL Inactives (Thursday, December 4, 2008) >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of inactive
players for tonight's NFL game.
OAKLAND RAIDERS AT SAN DIEGO CHARGERS, 8:15 P.M. (ET)
Raiders - 3rd QB Marques Tuiasosopo, LB Ricky Brown, CB Michael Waddell, C Jake
Simpkins cleared by NCAA to play for Memphis >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Simpkins was cleared by the NCAA on
Thursday to join the University of Memphis basketball team.
Simpkins, a 6-foot-9 freshman forward, signed a national letter of intent with
Memphis in the spring.
Penguins place D Boucher on IR >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Philippe Boucher
was placed on injured reserve Thursday with an undisclosed injury.
Boucher, who has missed the last two games, is listed as week-to-week.
Acquired by the Pengu
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
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