EUROPA LEAGUE THURSDAY: The Ultra previews the final matchday with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
FINAL MATCHDAY
8pm We finish the Europa League Group stage on Betdaq Betting Exchange this Thursday night, and we have a hectic night ahead! All 18 games all kicking off simultaneously is close to impossible to follow, but there’s plenty of interesting games to go through with things very tight around the top 8. We also have Celtic right on the bubble in 24th – the good news for Celtic fans is that they are at home for the final matchday against Utrecht, and they are the red-hot favourites too. Celtic are trading 1.38 with Utrecht 10.5 and the draw is 5.5 at the time of writing.
At the top of the table, Lyon and Aston Villa have been superb – they can go into the final matchday without pressure. They both have home advantage, and they are both odds on. Aston Villa are trading 1.48 with Red Bull Salzburg 7.2 and the draw is 4.8 – it might be interesting to see if Unai Emery decides to rest players with such a hectic Premier League schedule – they recorded a massive win at the weekend away to Newcastle too. You have to hand it to Unai Emery – Villa only have an average xG created of 1.4 which is a mid-table figure in the Premier League but he has got the absolute max out of this squad. Confidence and morale in the group has been sky high all season.
Nottingham Forest, the other Premier League side involved in the Europa League this season, are sitting comfortably in mid-table. They can’t get into the top eight and they won’t get knocked out of the top 24 so they are heading into the playoff knockout stage. They are going into their game as the odds on favourites at 1.66 with Ferencvaros 5.6 and the draw is 4.3 at the time of writing. Another eye-catching fixture is Porto hosting Rangers; although Rangers are just making up the numbers here given they are out of the tournament.
That’s a massive game for Porto though given they sit in 9th spot, and you’d have to say it’s a great opportunity for them given how poor Rangers have been this season. Porto are trading as the red-hot favourites at 1.3 with Rangers 13.0 and the draw is 6.2 at the time of writing. As is always the case with so many fixtures kicking off at the same time, from a trading point of view it’s hard to focus on everything so I would pick one of two fixtures. I would also be careful of any major changes to starting XI’s here – especially in the case of the Premier League sides given they are fairly certain to finish in the bracket they are currently in.
I haven’t gone mad with stakes in the Europa League this season, and I’m happy to finish the group stage in that manner. The best bet of the night in my opinion is in the Porto v Rangers game – Porto have been immense domestically and lead the way in Portugal while Rangers have been having a nightmare season. Obviously they have gone through some major manager issues, but I like Porto to cover the handicap here on the way to winning. They are trading 1.85 -1.5 goals which is a confident bet in my opinion.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Porto -1.5 goals to beat Rangers at 1.85 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/EL2026
