THURSDAY EUROPA LEAGUE: The Ultra previews REAL BETIS v MANCHESTER UNITED and ARSENAL v SPORTING LISBON both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
REAL BETIS V MANCHESTER UNITED
5.45pm The Last 16 of the Europa League comes to an end on Thursday night, with Manchester United and Arsenal back in action on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! The last race at the Cheltenham Festival takes place at 5-30pm, so the 5-45pm kick off in the Europa League is an ideal time! It’s an incredible week of sport. We kick off the evening with Real Betis hosting Manchester United, and this tie is almost done. Manchester United won the first leg 4-1 at Old Trafford so they just have to get through this 90 minutes with as little drama as possible now. Both sides had draws at the weekend, and the Manchester United one against Southampton took the headlines on Sunday. United had a man sent off in the first half, but they were right to feel very unlucky with some referee decisions – in my opinion they should have definitely had a penalty for handball. That’s the problem with VAR these days though with the fans, when clear handball’s are not reviewed it always causes outcry. Real Betis picked up a 1-1 draw away to Villarreal, that put a further dent in their top four chances in La Liga. Real Sociedad have been dropping quite a few points recently but Real Betis just haven’t taken advantage.
This is a game to keep stakes small in given the situation in my opinion. Obviously Real Betis will have to chase the game, and that could easily open gaps for United. However, that’s not really the natural game for Betis so it will be interesting to see what they opt to do. They don’t really have a choice, it just depends how attacking they want to be. I’m sure ten Hag will set up United to defend – they could easily have a lot of success on the counter but they have to focus on being solid at the back tonight. Even though they are three goals ahead, ten Hag doesn’t really rest players so I would expect a strong line-up. He might be tempted to rest one or two, but we won’t see many chances in my opinion. United are trading as the favourites at 2.02 and to be honest there was such a gulf in class between the sides last week I feel a small bet on United is the best option here. They finished last week with an xG of 4.89, they could have easily won 5-1 or 6-1. I think Betis will want to play an open game, and United can pick them off on the counter. Obviously they don’t need to win, so I’m keeping stakes small.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Manchester United to beat Real Betis at 2.02 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/ReaMun
ARSENAL V SPORTING LISBON
8pm All eyes turn to London as Arsenal host Sporting Lisbon after a cracking first leg in Portugal. It was full of drama and entertainment – hopefully we get even half of the chances here in a game that finished 2-2. The xG figures pretty much backed up a 2-2 draw was a fair result, and although it was a hard evening for Arsenal they wouldn’t have been unhappy to take a draw into the second leg. Both sides recorded 3-0 wins in their domestic leagues at the weekend – Arsenal are still five points clear at the top of the Premier League while Sporting Lisbon are sitting in fourth in Portugal. That’s not a great position for Sporting because the top two go into the Champions League and the third goes into the Europa League. They don’t want to end up in the Europa Conference League! Arsenal have been fantastic this season, Arteta has really given them a backbone to come through some tricky situations and they are the long odds on favourites to win here. They are trading as short as 1.4 at the time of writing which is the shortest price of any side to win in the Europa League this week! It’s hard to see past the Arsenal win here to be honest – they are very comfortable at home and they are clearly playing with bags of confidence. The only worry is that they have been conceding a few sloppy goals – the two against Bournemouth here a good example – but they still won 3-2 in dramatic fashion.
Sporting Lisbon have been on a winning run in Portugal, and their xG figures are very impressive. They create an average xG of 2.0 and only concede 0.9. There’s obviously a huge gulf in class between the two leagues though, and Sporting Lisbon not even in the top two domestically is a sign that it should be one way traffic for Arsenal here. The Gunners have very similar stats in the Premier League, and although I feel it will be a smooth win for them here I’m going to look around the side markets for some value. I couldn’t put anyone off including Arsenal at 1.4 in an Acca this week, but I’m very happy to take the 2.02 on Arsenal to cover the 1.5 goal Handicap. Sporting managed to get a 1-1 draw away to Spurs in the Champions League, but they conceded an xG of 2.22 and then conceded an xG of 2.46 away to Marseille. They did pick up a win against Eintracht Frankfurt, but I still feel Arsenal cover the Handicap here and the 2.02 is a nice value bet.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Arsenal -1.5 goals to beat Sporting Lisbon at 2.02 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/ArsSpo
