EUROPA LEAGUE THURSDAY: The Ultra previews the Europa League on Thursday with the focus on Feyenoord hosting Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest hosting Midtjylland with two recommended BETDAQ bet’s.
FEYENOORD V ASTON VILLA
8pm Thursday night means Europa League on Betdaq Betting Exchange! We have some cracking games to enjoy, and we kick off the evening with Feyenoord host Aston Villa. This is the highlight fixture of the evening in my opinion – Aston Villa have had a difficult start to the season but they have finally put back-to-back wins together between this competition and then the Premier League at the weekend. They netted three goals at the weekend at home to Fulham – after going the first four games without scoring and then a 1-1 draw against Sunderland, that must have been a relief for Unai Emery. Despite the turn of results, there are still some major red flags. Their average xG created is only 1.22 in the Premier League which is a very low figure – that’s actually the seventh worst attacking figure in the Premier League at the moment. They’ve conceded more chances than they have created this season, so while there’s a massive gulf in class between the Eredivisie and the Premier League it’s no surprise that we have such an open betting heat here. Feyenoord are sitting top of the Eredivisie and are unbeaten in seven games.
Aston Villa come into the game as the 2.5 favourites with Feyenoord trading 3.0 and the draw is 3.55 at the time of writing. Feyenoord have been playing superb football in the Netherlands – their average xG created is 1.9 and their average xG conceded is only 0.98. Title winning stats, as they aim to return to glory after the 2022/23 season. However, it’s fair to say they haven’t played anyone big domestically yet, so we can’t read too much into their performance levels. I do feel this game is tricky from a betting point of view because Villa are clearly struggling at the start of the season, but the standard in the Premier League is so far ahead of what Feyenoord face. I’m happy to stay out of the match odds market here in what should be a very tight game. The Over/Under 2.5 goals market is very even, but I would have Under 2.5 goals a little shorter. Villa grinded out a 1-0 win last week while Feyenoord lost 1-0. I feel this game will have less chances than the markets expects; Unders looks the value call at 1.97.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Under 2.5 goals at 1.97 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/FeyAst
NOTTINGHAM FOREST V MIDTJYLLAND
8pm Next we have Nottingham Forest host Midtjylland! We obviously have a massive gulf in class between the domestic leagues here, and it’ll be interesting to see how Nottingham Forest perform. Midtjylland are sitting in second place in the Danish Superliga, and this is a fixture that Forest will be fully expected to win. Ange Postecoglou is still very new in the job, but he’s already under immense pressure after losing to Sunderland here at the weekend. He had a very difficult start for his first fixture away to Arsenal, but a 1-1 draw against Burnley and then losing to Sunderland are definitely turned things into a bad start now. Obviously Nottingham Forest has a very active owner, and it will be very interesting to see how this plays out if things continue to do badly. Postecoglou took a chance resting players in the Carabao Cup too, and that backfired massively. Dare I say, Forest badly need a win here. As you would expect, they come into the game as the odds on favourites at 1.53 with Midtjylland 6.3 and the draw is trading 4.7 at the time of writing.
There’s a big gulf in class here and Forest have home advantage, so the only negative to taking the 1.53 on Forest here is that morale must be low after the last few games. We haven’t got that new manager bounce at all! That being said, there are a lot of positives with Forest despite only having five points from their six games. They have the fourth best attacking figure in the Premier League, which is ironic given how much they over-performed last season. Their attacking figure last season would have put them closer to the relegation zone rather than the European spots – Nuno basically got sacked for over-performing and returning to the mean his season! The main issue for Forest is they have really struggled to convert their chances in the early part of the season, but they will get a lot of the ball here and given the low level that Midtjylland play at, I still feel it’s worth taking the 1.53 for a small bet. Forest are playing well, just not getting results at the moment, that can change here.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Nottingham Forest to beat Midtjylland at 1.53 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/NotMid
