EUROPA LEAGUE THURSDAY: Our football tipster The Ultra previews Thursday’s games between RANGERS v BRONDBY and WEST HAM v GENK both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
RANGERS V BRONDBY
8pm We’ve had a busy week of Europa League action with Celtic playing on Tuesday afternoon and Leicester playing on Wednesday afternoon, but we return to our usual Thursday night slot on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! We start with Rangers hosting Brondby as they come into this game under immense pressure. After making some decent progress in Europe and dominating their domestic league, Rangers sit nailed to the bottom of Group A after two losses. Even Brondby are ahead of them with one point! The problem for Rangers is they just haven’t created enough to win games – they finished with an xG of 0.73 at home to Lyon and then only created 0.35 away to Sparta Prague. We saw a huge amount of goals from Rangers Europa League games over the last two seasons, but it’s seems like their level has dropped this season.
You probably only have to look at the Scottish league table to see that too. Last season they were unbeaten and ran away with the title. This season they have only won six from nine games with Hearts and Dundee United within three points. You have to consider what a low level the Scottish Premiership is, and although they will more than likely lift the title again this season, their limits have already been exposed in Europe. Given Sparta Prague only have four points from two games, all is not lost for Rangers but they need to start playing better football. I feel they will have enough in the locker to beat a side like Brondby – they have only created xG’s of 0.31 and 0.27, while they conceded 4.8 away to Lyon! Rangers could make hard work of things though, and their price around 1.5 looks about right. This game screams a Rangers win having to grind it out in a low scoring affair, and under 2.5 goals at 2.04 looks the value play.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Under 2.5 goals at 2.04 with BETDAQ Exchange.
You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQRanBro
MATCH STATS
● This will be the very first meeting between Rangers and Brøndby IF in European competition. To date Rangers have won seven of their eight meetings with Danish sides (D1), most recently defeating FC Midtjylland home and away during UEFA Europa League qualifying in 2019-20.
● Brøndby have played away to Scottish sides on three previous occasions in European competition, winning on their last two visits against Aberdeen in 1996 and Hibernian in 2016 (L1).
● Rangers have lost three of their last four home matches in all European competition (W1), including on MD1 against Lyon. It’s as many defeats as in their previous 26 home games in Europe beforehand.
● Brøndby and Rangers, along with SK Rapid Wien, are two of three sides yet to score in the UEFA Europa League this season. Brøndby have the lowest expected goals total of any side (0.57), while Rangers are third-bottom (0.88).
● Rangers have picked up three red cards across their last three UEFA Europa League games, all against Czech Republic sides, with those three sendings-off as many as the Scottish side suffered in their previous 40 games in the competition.
WEST HAM V GENK
8pm We finish the evening with West Ham hosting Genk. West Ham have made a brilliant start to life in Europe with two wins from two games, and they can be confident of making it three from three here. They can’t afford to ease up here looking at the situation with the Group. They might have six points, but Genk and Dinamo Zagreb have three each – they don’t want to get into an awkward situation with a loss here and three sides on six points each! The Hammers have recorded two 2-0 wins in this competition, and we can see more of the same here. They make a lot of appeal on the handicap but they have made reasonably quick starts to their two Europa League games and I feel they can do the same here.
West Ham/West Ham is trading 2.0 for Half-Time/Full-Time and that looks cracking value. Genk had to work very hard to beat Rapid Vienna and then lost 3-0 to Dinamo Zagreb with home advantage. They did create an xG of 1.5 or bigger in both games, but they conceded 2.48 against Dinamo and can’t really have any complaints with the loss. West Ham haven’t been at their best this season going forward – they were creating better xG figures last season, but being realistic they aren’t going to challenge for the top four every season! Last season was their moment, but they are still playing good football and should outclass this Genk side – they created an xG of 1.85 last weekend away to Everton which was very positive and David Moyes might see these games against Genk as a nice opportunity to put the Group to bed.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win West Ham/West Ham Half-Time/Full-Time at 2.0 with BETDAQ Exchange.
You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQWesRac
MATCH STATS
● West Ham and KRC Genk will face off in European competition for the first time. West Ham last played against Belgian opposition in 1976 when they lost the Cup Winners’ Cup final against Anderlecht.
● Genk have lost both of their away matches against English opponents to date – they were beaten 0-5 by Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League in 2011-12 before falling 1-2 to Liverpool in the same competition in November 2019.
● Declan Rice has scored in both of West Ham’s UEFA Europa League matches this season – he could become just the third West Ham player to score in three consecutive appearances in major European competition (excluding qualifiers) after David Cross in 1980 and Brian Dear in 1965.
● Genk have only been beaten four times in 19 away matches in the UEFA Europa League (W7 D8). They beat SK Rapid Wien away from home on MD1 and could win consecutive away games in the competition for the first time.
● West Ham boss David Moyes has only faced Belgian opposition once before during his managerial career – his Everton side were eliminated by Standard Liège in the first round of the UEFA Cup in 2008-09.
