EUROPA LEAGUE THURSDAY: The Ultra previews three games in the Europa League on Thursday featuring Liverpool, West Ham, Brighton all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
LASK V LIVERPOOL
5.45pm The Europa League kicks off on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE on Thursday with plenty of interest from the Premier League as Liverpool, West Ham and Brighton are all in action. All three are long odds on favourites to win against weak opposition and I’m sure the treble will be a very popular bet! We start the evening with Liverpool away to LASK. I’m sure we’ve all saw the viral video of the LASK team celebrating when they saw the draw that they got Liverpool; I’m not sure why because they’ll probably get hammered! Liverpool are trading 1.35 at the time of writing with LASK 9.6 and the draw is 6.2. The only worry you’d have about Liverpool here is Klopp resting a lot of players. He’s been known to make those decisions and it will be interesting to see what he decides to do in the Group stage here. He has named exceptionally weak sides in the likes of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in recent years, but you have to feel that he’ll want to take this tournament seriously – Liverpool have a great chance of winning it.
Liverpool are actually starting the tournament as the clear favourites, and they won’t have any trouble topping their Group. They didn’t even get an awkward travel Group either to be honest. There’s a huge gulf in class between the sides here, and I feel the question is how many goals will Liverpool score rather than will they win. The 1.35 is a little short as an outright tip for me – I usually don’t go below 1.4 – but I couldn’t put anyone off including it in any Acca this evening. Especially if Klopp names a decent XI – I’m sure there will be some changes. Liverpool notched up another win at the weekend in the Premier League, but they did concede again. They are creating an average xG of 1.65 but they are giving away plenty of chances too – their average xG conceded is 1.52 which is pretty high. Of course we all know Liverpool have a couple of issues at the back and they don’t seem to be able to fix the issue. The market is expecting LASK to score with Both Teams To Score trading odds on, and I feel we’ll see goals here too. Over 2.5 goals stands out at 1.49 in what should be a very entertaining game.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Over 2.5 goals at 1.49 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/LasLiv
WEST HAM V BACKA TOPOLA
8pm Next we move to Group A as West Ham host Backa Topola. Most casual fans can be forgive for googling this side; some of them might even think it’s a made up name! Backa Topola play their football in Serbia and they finished second behind Red Star Belgrade last season. They have had a decent start to this season too; they currently sit top of the Serbian SuperLiga after an unbeaten seven games. Obviously the gulf in class between the sides and the leagues is massive, but Backa Topola are no mugs. You know that David Moyes is going to take this tournament very seriously, especially after the Hammers won the Europa Conference League last season, and I would expect a very strong West Ham XI. The market has the home side trading very short, and it’s confident on the home win. West Ham are trading as short as 1.13 with Backa Topola 24.0 if you fancy a shock and the draw is 12.0. That 1.13 is actually the shortest price in the Europa League this week. West Ham have made a strong start to the Premier League this season and of course as I said above there is a huge gulf in class between the sides.
With West Ham trading so short in the match odds market, we’ll have to look around the side markets for some value. The Hammer had been on a nice run in the Premier League but they suffered a defeat at the weekend against Manchester City. No shame in that result, and they actually played very well too. They still sit in the top six in the Premier League and they might be able to compete for a European spot this year – Manchester United and Chelsea look like mid-table sides at the moment which opens things up! Despite West Ham getting results, I would be a little worried about their under-lining numbers. They are conceding a lot of chances – their average xG conceded is 2.17 which is the highest in the Premier League after five games. Backa Topola will have confidence from their domestic results, and they can score at some stage here. Both Teams To Score is worth a small bet at 2.51.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Both Teams To Score at 2.51 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/WesBac
BRIGHTON V AEK ATHENS
8pm We finish the evening with Brighton hosting AEK Athens in Group B. This should be a cracking Group including Ajax and Marseille. It will be a tricky Group for Brighton, but they are more than capable – they have been on fire in the Premier League this season. They played Manchester United off the park at Old Trafford at the weekend, and they currently sit just one point outside the top four. They will definitely be in the mix for a Europa League spot again this season, and they have done remarkably well with a small budget. They were the first major club to dive into the world of xG and it has paid handsome dividends so far. Spare a thought for Graham Potter; he was doing so well at Brighton before Chelsea came knocking. He had to take that job as it was a Champions League side, but it went terribly and now he has to watch Brighton in Europe without being involved. He couldn’t have known it at the time, but that decision has been terrible for his career – he had a good thing going at Brighton. Just like David Moyes with the Everton, Man United and West Ham flip around; his time will come again.
Brighton come into this game as the red-hot favourites. Much like the two games above involving Premier League clubs, there’s just a huge gulf in class between the sides here. With this being their first time in Europe too you’d have to expect a very strong XI from Brighton. I mentioned above that Liverpool have a great chance of winning the tournament, well so do Brighton. They would be one of the favourites outside of Liverpool. They are trading as short as 1.25 to get off to a winning start with AEK Athens 14.5 and the draw is 7.0. AEK Athens topped the Super League in Greece last season, but they have started this season slowly. It’s very early days as they’ve only played three games, but they’ve been held to two draws already. With Brighton creating so much this season I feel they can cover the handicap here. They are trading 1.71 -1.5 goals which looks cracking value the way they are playing at the moment.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Brighton -1.5 goals to beat AEK Athens at 1.71 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/BriAek
