Benfica 1-2 Chelsea May 15, 2013

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Would be a huge result for Chelsea if they won, considering they won Champions League last year and then became the first reigning champions to be knocked out in the Group Stages (and then parachuting down into this years Europa League).

For Benfica, the Portuguese side has been the bridesmaid in this competition more times than they’d like to remember….

Chelsea – Fernando Torres – 60th minute

Benfica – Oscar Cardozo PENALTY KICK – 68th minute

Chelsea – Branislav Ivanovic – 90+2nd minute


On the injury front, though, manager Jorge Jesus doesn't have any problems to contend with. Fighting game between Benfica vs Chelsea is very important. These two giants are facing a great fight UEFA final.

Never before has a club followed up a Champions League win with victory in UEFA’s second-most prestigious competition, but that’s exactly what Chelsea will be out to do when they face Benfica in Wednesday’s Europa League Final in Amsterdam.

It’s not exactly the ideal pattern.

No doubt the Blues would have preferred to put together a more serious defense of last spring’s European Cup triumph, but after an early Champions League exit and difficult start to the season that had them outside the Premier League’s top four, they have managed to right the ship and will conclude the campaign with both a third-place finish and European final.

It could certainly have been worse, and Chelsea fans can take heart that things are trending upwards for their club.

Benfica, meanwhile, come into Wednesday’s final on the back of their first Portuguese Primeira Liga defeat of the season—a 1-0 loss away to Porto that now has them trailing the reigning champions by a single point with one match to play.

With the title now out of their hands the Europa League will now have added importance for the Lisbon giants, and following six straight defeats in European finals they’ll be looking to start a new streak at Amsterdam Arena.

This may not be the continent’s showcase event, but with clubs as esteemed as Benfica and Chelsea contesting Wednesday’s match, this year’s Europa League Final may just seem bigger than it really is.

Arsenal vs Wigan May 14, 2013

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After Tottenham won 2-1 away at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday, Arsenal have dropped below their North London rivals and into fifth place. Their two point deficit means that they need to win against Wigan this weekend to move back above Spurs and into a Champions League place again.

However, Wigan must win at all costs too, and will be hoping their shock FA Cup win against Manchester City on the weekend will have given them new impetus to pick up a victory. A defeat against Arsenal will mean they are relegated immediately, while a draw would only prolong the inevitable, leaving them needing to with their final game of the season and Sunderland to lose theirs, with a combined 12 goal swing on goal differential. And that's not going to happen.

Arsenal have Abou Diaby out with a serious knee injury and Olivier Giroud through suspension, though Łukasz Fabiański and Kieran Gibbs are both available again after their injury problems. Wigan have Ronnie Stam, Jean Beausejour and Maynor Figueroa all unavailable with injuries.

Arsenal injuries and suspensions

Out: Abou Diaby (knee), Olivier Giroud (suspension) In doubt: None

Wigan Athletic injuries and suspensions

Out: Ronnie Stam (ankle), Jean Beausejour (hamstring),Maynor Figueroa (groin). In doubt: None

Match Date\Time: Tuesday, 7:45 p.m. local, 2:45 p.m. ET

Venue: Emirates Stadium, London, England

Miami Heat vs Chicago Bulls May 13, 2013

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CHICAGO -- So much for South Beach style. The Miami Heat showed again they can get down and dirty.

LeBron James came on strong down the stretch to finish with 25 points, Chris Bosh added 20 points and 19 rebounds, and the Heat followed up the most lopsided playoff win in franchise history with a 104-94 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Shaking off a shove to the court that earned Nazr Mohammed an ejection and James an accusation of flopping from Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, the four-time MVP came through down the stretch, scoring 12 in the fourth quarter.

In the end, it was the Heat grinding out the victory.

"You can't win a championship being pretty and shiny," Bosh said. "You're going to have to get dirty. You're going to have to play physical. You're going to have to dive on the floor. You're going to have to do things that are extremely tough.

"I think people forget just two years ago we were a half-court, grind-it-out kind of team that was trying to beat you down. Just because we've moved to more of a free-flowing offense, we're more spread a little bit, that doesn't mean that we are just a run-and-gun team."

The Heat prevailed on a night when James was off target most of the way, hitting just 6 of 17 shots and even getting blocked on a layup by Nate Robinson in the third quarter.

But he and Cole hit two big 3-pointers. Bosh perked up after two quiet games, finishing one rebound shy of the club playoff record, and Miami's bench outscored Chicago's 36-8.

"For (Bosh) to have 19 rebounds, and for Norris to come off the bench and defend the way he did against Nate and also contribute offensively -- a big-time drive in the fourth and a big-time 3 as well," James said. "Those two guys were the reason we won the game."

Carlos Boozer led Chicago with 21 points. Robinson and Jimmy Butler each scored 17. Joakim Noah added 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Marco Belinelli had 16 points, but the Bulls couldn't pull this one out.

They were within 85-83 when Cole scored on a finger roll with about four minutes left, and Miami started to take control from there. James answered a 3-pointer by Belinelli with one of his own, and after Boozer hit a jumper for Chicago, Cole buried another 3 for the Heat to make it 96-88 with 1:48 remaining.

Finally, the Heat could breathe a little easier. Nothing about this one was easy, though.

Playing in Chicago for the first time since their 27-game win streak ended there, the Heat got all they could handle.

The Bulls made it clear early on they were going to put up a fight, and that had nothing to do with all the pushing and shoving.

Everton vs West Ham May 12, 2013

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Everton

Subs from Mucha, Heitinga, Jelavic, Stones, Hibbert, Oviedo, Vellios, Duffy, Barkley, Naismith, Francisco, Hitzlsperger

Doubtful None

Injured Neville (knee, unknown)

Suspended None

Form guide DWLDWD

Disciplinary record Y59 R3

Leading scorer Fellaini 11

West Ham


Subs from Henderson, Spiegel, Spence, Pogatetz, Noble, Collison, Maïga, C Cole, Taylor, Chamakh, Wellington, J Cole

Doubtful None

Injured Tomkins (calf, 19 May), McCartney (knee, Aug)

Suspended None

Form guide DLWDDD

Disciplinary record Y70 R1

Leading scorers Carroll, Nolan 7

STAT-ATTACK

Head-to-head

West Ham are without a win in nine league matches against Everton.

The Hammers have won only six of their 33 Premier League matches against the Toffees.

And they have won just twice at Goodison Park in that time.

No side has conceded more goals in the opening 15 minutes of games than Everton and West Ham United (both 11) this season.

This is the 126th meeting between the sides. Everton have won 62, West Ham 36 and there have been 27 draws.

Everton

Everton have drawn 15 matches this season – the most in the Premier League, but only the two Manchester clubs have lost less than their six matches.

The Toffees have kept clean sheets in four of their last five league games.

Leighton Baines is the only outfield player to play every minute (3150) of every league game this season.

Marouane Fellaini committed his 77th and 78th fouls of the season against Liverpool last weekend, which is the most in the top flight.

Leon Osman has completed more dribbles (58) than any other player in the Premier League this campaign.

West Ham

West Ham have drawn four of their last six Premier League games.

The Hammers have lost just one of their last eight Premier League home games (W4 D3 L1), but won just one of their last eight away from Upton Park.

Andy Carroll won the same number of aerial duels (nine) as the whole Newcastle team put together last Saturday, but the striker has hit the target with just four of his last 19 shots on target.

Fulham vs Liverpool May 12, 2013

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Fulham vs Liverpool
Sunday, 12th May 2013 at 3pm
Premier League
Craven Cottage

- Fulham are five points clear of the relegation zone with two games to play, but need to be cautious of complacency after relegated Reading beat them 4-2 last weekend.

- Two goals from Bryan Ruiz were not enough to distract from the fact that Fulham now have just one point from six games, and still have an outside chance of being dragged into the relegation fight. Ruiz is 3/1 to score at any time with 888sport.com.

- However, Fulham fans can take heart that against a different keeper the scoreline could have been different. Alex McCarthy made 13 saves against Fulham, the most by any keeper in the last round of games.

- At their own defensive end, Aaron Hughes holds the second cleanest defensive record in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, having averaged 541 minutes and 15 seconds between fouls this season, committing just four in total.

- Brede Hangeland, meanwhile, is one of five players in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to have made 200 or more interceptions so far this season. Hangeland has 203 to his name in total. Hangeland is also ranked third for blocks with 37 this season, and second overall for defensive contributions with 338.

- Behind Hangeland, Mark Schwarzer will become the third goalkeeper in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to make 200 saves this season. He’s made 199 to date.

- Liverpool battled out a 0-0 draw in the Merseyside derby in their last league outing.

- Pepe Reina can be thanked for keeping a clean sheet in that game, making 12 saves in total, the second busiest keeper in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for the last round of games.

- Glen Johnson has impressed going forward this season, but he may wish to concentrate on setting up colleagues rather than going for goal. He has the most ‘expensive’ goal in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, having required 44 shots at goal to score once, more than any of the other players in the Premier League to be stuck on one goal.

- That’s 8 more shots at goal than any other defender in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, ahead of second placed Daniel Agger who has had 36 shots at goal in total, scoring three goals in the process.

- Liverpool’s defenders may feel they can get forward and have an attempt on goal with a midfielder of the defensive quality of Lucas in front of them. Lucas is one of 22 players in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to have attempted 100 or more tackles this season, and one of five to have done so maintaining a tackles won percentage of 60% or over (62.1%).

- Even more impressive is how quickly Lucas has got to that milestone. He has attempted 100 tackles in just 1862 minutes this season. To put that in context, Lucas has made 111 tackles in 1862 minutes, while Mohamed Diame of West Ham, who has made the next highest number of tackles, has taken 759 minutes longer to attempt just two more tackles.