It's 6/1 Roma, Barcelona and Valencia at the top of Victor Chandler's 2012/4 Uefa Cup outright market but when push comes to shove punters should expect to see the Italians come out on top.

That's the opinion of the firm's experienced football trader, Alex Cordwell, who believes that the Serie A topping Romans have looked a cut above the rest so far this season.

"Roma notched their seventh successive league victory at the weekend and now head into the Christmas break unbeaten in Serie A, and you can't argue with a record like that," said Cordwell.

"Skipper Francesco Totti, John Carew, Vincenzo Montella and Marco Delvecchio have been in top form this season and I'd expect them to form the bedrock of a serious Roman challenge in the New Year."

Roma must face Turkish side Gaziantepspor in the Uefa Cup Third Round. The Turks pulled off a surprise 6-1 aggregate elimination of French side FC Lens in the last round.

England's two representatives, Liverpool and Newcastle United are installed as respective 9/1 and 10/1 chances for the European club competition that resumes on February 26.

Liverpool face a potentially tricky match against Levski Sofia whereas Newcastle take on 1,000/1 Norwegian outsiders Valerenga.

Scotland's sole survivors, Celtic, meet Teplice and are 20/1 for outright success.

Outright betting:

Barcelona 6/1, Valencia 6/1, AS Roma 6/1, Inter 8/1, Liverpool 9/1, Parma 10/1 Newcastle 10/1, Marseille 16/1, Celtic 20/1, PSV Eindhoven 20/1, Club Brugges 25/1, AJ Auxerre 25/1, Real Mallorca 28/1, Besiktas 33/1, Galatasaray 33/1 Benfica 33/1, Villareal 33/1, Rosenborg 40/1, Bordeaux 40/1, Sochaux 40/1 Panathinaikos 50/1, Perugia 50/1, Spartak Moscow 50/1, FK Teplice 80/1 Genclerbirligi 100/1, Brondby 125/1, Gaziantepspor 125/1 Dnipro 150/1 Groclin Grodzisk 150/1, Levski Sofia 200/1, Debreceni 500/1, Valerenga 1,000/1