Bury have turned their season around in recent weeks and they are now seven games unbeaten with five wins in a row, including a 3-1 win in the local derby at Rochdale on Saturday. The run of form has coincided with the arrival of striker Glyn Hurst from Shrewsbury, the prolific striker has netted six times in eight games, while fellow striker Andy Bishop has also benefited, scoring three in his last two. Wrexham’s away form has been terrible this season; they have now lost four in a row on their travels conceding 16 goals and could only draw 0-0 with bottom club Macclesfield at home on Saturday. Wrexham have doubts over four attackers going into this game, with Llewellyn banned and Roberts, McEvilly and Craddock facing a battle to be fit. Take Bury to continue their fine form.

Glenn Roeder’s Newcastle face a daunting trip to Italy to take on Serie A high-flyers Palermo in this Group H game. Palermo have won seven of their opening nine Serie A games to lie 2nd in the table and have already beaten Fiorentina, Lazio and AC Milan. They have experience of English opposition having knocked West Ham out in qualifying round, winning 4-0 on aggregate. Newcaslte’s problems this season have been well documented, they have looked ineffective away from home in the Premiership, scoring in only one of their five away games, against a struggling West Ham side. The Geordies also have injury concerns ahead of the trip to Sicily, Steve Harper faces a late fitness test which could mean third-choice Tim Krul making his debut. Carr, Babayaro, Parker, Duff, Ameobi, Martins and Rossi are also missing, meaning out of favour striker Albert Luque will start up front. Palermo also have some injury concerns and there is a small rumour they will field a weakened side, but it is hard to see where Newcastle can get goals from and backed by a passionate home support, Palermo should have enough to win.

Ajax have started life under Henk Ten Cate brilliantly and they lead the Dutch league having won nine of their ten games and scored 26 goals in the process. Vienna have struggled in Austria this season and are only eight in their domestic league. They have struggled away from home as well, scoring only four goals in seven games, five of which they have lost. This is Ajax’s first game in the group, but Vienna are already struggling, having lost 4-1 at home to Zulte-Waregem on match day one.

Robredo showed his determination to perform well here and earn a qualifying spot for Shangai with a spirited comeback against Mathieu’s countryman Sebastian Grosjean, much to the disappointment of those of us who backed Grosjean. Robredo trailed 6-3, 5-2 and Grosjean had two chances to serve the match in that set, the Spaniard fought back though and won the set 7-5 and took the decided 6-4. A strong performance this week will give Robredo his chance to join the elite in Shangai and he can move a step closer to that with victory against Mathieu. He has experience of taking on and beating the home favourites in this event, having dispatched Santoro and Clement in recent years, as well as Grosjean yesterday. Mathieu beat an out-of-sorts Novak Djokovic in two tie-breaks yesterday, but it was a scrappy encounter and he doesn’t have the best of records in this event. He was won only 50% of his matches here and has never been beyond the third round. Robredo will be desperate to secure another victory and move a step closer to Shangai.

Lyon and Real have dominated this group against two sides who have seen better days in European competition. Lyon are in fantastic form in France and have won their last nine Ligue 1 games and are already 11 points clear in the table. Fabio Cappello has also turned Real Madrid’s fortunes around and a 2-0 win over Barcelona two weeks ago has closed the gap on the Catalan giants. The reserves fixtures three weeks ago saw Lyon win 3-0 and Real 4-1 and both sides will fancy their chances of getting goals tonight aplenty tonight.

Juve’s Serie B campaign has gathered pace recently and the Turin giants have now eroded the 17 points penalty they were handed for their part in the Italian match fixing scandal, victory tonight could take them 16th place and only 11 points off the league leaders. After drawing their first game against Rimini, Juventus have won seven in a row and haven’t conceded a goal in six games, tonight they face 9th placed Brescia at the Stadio Delle Alpi. Brescia have won once, drawn once and lost once away from home but this will be their toughest test yet. Juve had a good record against Brescia when they both played in Serie A and they should have enough tonight to claim another three points.

Grosjean did the business yesterday against a very dis-heartened Mallise and he has a real chance to progress further against the No. 8 seed Tommy Robredo. I mentioned Grosjean’s liking for performing in front of home crowds yesterday and he showed that by winning in straight sets against the Belgian. Grosjean won this tournament in 2001 and is a big fan of carpet surfaces, with a 41-23 record. He has lost on four of the six occasions he has faced Robredo, but both of the Frenchman’s wins have come on fast indoor surfaces and in straight sets. Robredo has had a good season and has reached a semi and quarter-final since the US Open, but his 15-19 record on carpet and the fact he faces Grosjean on his home territory makes me side with the Frenchmen.

Both these players are coming off excellent runs in home tournaments, Wawrinka was beaten by Fernando Gonzalez in the Swiss Indoors Semi’s last week, while Gicquel did brilliantly to reach the Final of the Lyon Grand Prix. Wawrinka reached the Quarter’s in Vienna the week before and also claimed his first ATP Tour title in Umag in July, but there is no doubting that his preferred surface is clay, he has won all his challenger titles on clay, and has a 9-10 record on carpet, which was improved by last week’s success. It was Gicquel’s first Tour final and the 29-year old, who is having the season of his life, will be keen to keep the momentum going in front of his French fans. In five events in France this year he has reached the semi-final or better on four occasions, two of those events were challengers where he won once and was runner-up on the other occasion. He has a better carpet record, winning 14 and losing 9 times. At these prices Gicquel represents some excellent value.

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Grosjean has an excellent record in front of his home fans and he can continue to impress to the French public with a first round victory here, a tournament he won in 2001. Grosjean seems to have the Belgian’s number when they meet, he has won all eight matches between the pair, dropping just two sets. Both lost to eventual runner-up Marc Gicquel in Lyon last week and that was the first time Mallise has been past the second round of an event since the US Open. Grosjean has already reached two Semi-Finals and a Quarter-Final in France this year and clearly enjoys playing in front of a home crowd. He has a good record on carpet, he has won 40 and lost 23 on the surface and must be favoured here to beat a player he always does well against.

A four match unbeaten run has seen Kaiserslautern move into third place in Bundesliga Two and into contention for a return to the Bundesliga next season. Their impressive start to the season has been based on home form where their four games have yielded maximum points and in recent games, some entertaining football. Koblenz and Aue have both been hit for four in recent weeks, although Koblenz did manage three of their own and were 2-0 up. Kaiserslautern did the double over Freiburg the last time they meet, two seasons ago in Bundesliga One.
Freiburg are down in thirteenth place at the moment, having won just once in their first eight games, that victory coming ten days ago at home to bottom team Burghausen. Away from home Freiburg have claimed draws at Munich 1860 and Duisburg, although neither side have been as free scoring at home as Kaiserslautern. Freiburg have also been beaten by mid-table sides RW Essen and Aue and with the home side in such free scoring form here, Freiburg could be struggling again.

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Verona come into this home match against league leaders Genoa on a terrible run of six games without a goal. Since scoring in their first two games against Modena and Lecce they have failed to find the back of the net against some pretty uninspiring sides. On the plus side they have managed to stay above the relegation zone as they are yet to concede more than one goal in a game this season, they have conceded just five in eight games. The teams placed 6th, 9th, 10th and 15th have all scored against them though, which should give the top scorers in the league, Genoa, a good chance of netting.
Genoa have won six and lost twice this season and are three points clear at the top of Serie B. They have lost disappointingly away from home at Modena and Lecce, but their free scoring style should give them a chance here. They have netted 17 times in eight games and are on a run of three wins in a row. Just one goal should be enough here so take a chance of Genoa breaking the Verona rearguard.