EUROPA LEAGUE THURSDAY: The Ultra previews the Europa League on Thursday with the focus on Go Ahead Eagles hosting Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest hosting Porto with two recommended BETDAQ bet’s.
GO AHEAD EAGLES V ASTON VILLA
5.45pm The Europa League is back on Betdaq Betting Exchange after the International Break! We have two interesting games for Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest – all eyes no doubt on Forest after sacking Ange Postecoglou in dramatic fashion at the weekend! We kick off the evening though with the early kick off as Go Ahead Eagles host Aston Villa. This is a game that Aston Villa will be fully expected to win given the gulf in class between the sides, and it’s no surprise that Unai Emery’s men come into the game as the odds on favourites. Aston Villa are trading 1.53 with Go Ahead Eagles 6.2 and the draw is 5.0 at the time of writing. Villa got off to a very slow start in the Premier League this season; they couldn’t even score in their opening four games! However, they’ve now put three wins together in a row domestically, and they’ve also won their opening two games in the Europa League. There are still some concerns however; an average xG created of 1.24 is far too low for a side that should be (or at least wants to be) competing for the European spots. They are marginally conceding more than they are creating too because their average xG conceded is 1.25.
Those figures could see Villa struggle to get back into the European spots, but for the time being they shouldn’t have too many problems here. Go Ahead Eagles finished seventh in the Eredivise last season; a very good achievement considering they only got promoted after the 2020/21 season. They won the Dutch Cup though, so jumped into this competition. At the moment, they sit in 12th which just ten points from nine games – fair to say it hasn’t been a great start to the domestic season for them. They have been very poor at the back; their average xG conceded is over 2.0 – they’re two clean sheets this season have come against sides that will likely be involved in the relegation battle too. Obviously the worry with this Villa side is in attack, but Go Ahead Eagles have been so poor at the back, I feel Villa will get plenty of chances here. That effectively takes away the worry for Villa in my opinion, and I’m happy to have a confident bet on the away win at 1.53.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Aston Villa to beat Go Ahead Eagles at 1.53 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/EagAst
NOTTINGHAM FOREST V PORTO
8pm Next we have the highlight of Thursday night as Nottingham Forest host Porto. As I said above, all eyes are on Forest at the moment with the behaviour of their owner – apparently he sacked Ange Postecoglou within ten minutes of the Chelsea game at the weekend, and it’s just been carnage all season really. What looked like an excellent project, now looks like a dumpster fire and most managers must be looking in thinking they don’t want the job. I know we have been through this, but Nottingham Forest massively over-performed last season and that was always going to hurt them this season given expectations have risen. The reality is they had the seventh worst attacking figure in the Premier League last season. Obviously Ange Postecoglou was always up against it – I’m actually surprised he took the job given we all know what to expect from the owner – but it feels like Postecoglou never had the dressing room behind him. We never saw a new manager bounce or an uptick in form when he came in. It’ll be very interesting to see what type of performance we get from the players now he’s gone; Sean Dyche hasn’t had long with the squad either.
This should be a good game, and it’s no surprise that we have a very open betting heat. Nottingham Forest are the marginal favourites at 2.7 with Porto 2.8 with the draw trading 3.55 at the time of writing. Ironically from a Nottingham Forest point of view, they have actually created more this season compared to last season – they have had a massive problem at the back though, and surely that is a job for Sean Dyche given his defensive brand of football. This will be a massive test, and I was slightly surprised to see Nottingham Forest as the favourites. Obviously there’s a huge gulf in class between the domestic leagues, but Porto are unbeaten in Portugal winning seven of their eight games. I’m going to keep stakes small here because obviously we have the new manager at Forest, but I’m happy to lay them here at 2.7 – they haven’t been playing well enough to be favourites here.
The Ultra Says:
One point lay (liability) Nottingham Forest to beat Porto at 2.7 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/NotPor
