How to breathe life into
a bunch of dead rubbers
When the weather is freezing, it's good to have something to warm the cockles of a punter's heart.
Unfortunately, tonight's cockle-warmer is a bunch of Europa League group-stage dead rubbers but let's try and make the best of things, eh?
Tottenham have been dismal enough in games that actually matter this season so I'm giving their trip to Besiktas a wide berth.
I've been impressed by the Turkish side when I've seen them this term but Demba Ba is nursing a broken toe and they, like Spurs, have already qualified.
Everton are also through to the knockout stages of what Neil Warnock delightfully describes as “that horrible cup on a Thursday night”.
Roberto Martinez is likely to send out the kids against Krasnodar at Goodison Park and given the Toffees' record of producing young players, my money's staying firmly in my pocket. Whatever happened to Wayne Rooney or Ross Barkley?
The Europa League isn't a place for unproven youngsters – we want big names and they don't come much bigger than Borussia Monchengladbach, who form the basis of my treble on the 6pm kick-offs.
Make sure you write that selection in really little letters so there's still room on your slip for Red Bull Salzburg and Club Brugge, then sit back and enjoy “that horrible cup”.
