EUROPA LEAGUE THURSDAY PREVIEW: Our European football tipster The Ultra previews Thursday’s games between ARSENAL v BENFICA, RANGERS v ROYAL ANTWERP, LEICESTER v SLAVIA PRAGUE and MANCHESTER UNITED v REAL SOCIEDAD all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
ARSENAL V BENFICA
5.55pm It’s crunch time for a lot of sides in the Last 32 on Thursday and we have some fascinating matches and markets on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. We kick the evening off with Arsenal hosting Benfica after a 1-1 draw in the first leg last week. Arsenal would have been happy with the result and while they were marginally on top; there wasn’t much in it at all and 1-1 was a very fair result. Benfica have actually drawn four of their last five games in all competitions, however they have been very unlucky at times as they have created enough to win games. Many football punters face the tricky question this evening of trusting Arsenal at odds on.
We all know Arsenal are having a very poor season in the Premier League; they lost 1-0 to Man City at the weekend but it could have been worse and while there’s no shame in losing to City given the form they are in at the moment – Arsenal have been a mid-table Premier League club at best this season. They used to be a banker for this competition and now it looks unlikely we will see them next season. Despite all that, Arsenal are still a tempting bet at 1.84 as they usually perform very well in the Europa League – it would have been better if they had home advantage though, even without fans. The bet I like here is Both Teams To Score at 1.8. I feel we’ll get a very open game if we see an early goal, and both sides created enough last week to suggest we will see goals here. The BTTS bet offers a shade more value than the Arsenal win.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Both Teams To Score at 1.8 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQArsBen
RANGERS V ROYAL ANTWERP
5.55pm Another game where the pressure is on heading into the second leg. We had an absolute cracker between these two in the first leg with Rangers winning 4-3 after going 2-1 down. You can imagine it was a very open game with a score line like that and we had plenty of chances at both ends of pitch. Hopefully we get more of the same this evening! Rangers already had the Scottish title in the bag but they increased their lead at the weekend, they now lead Celtic by 18 points and that shows what a good season they are having. We have to level what a low level the Scottish league is however, but Rangers have played well and created a lot of chances in the Europa League.
Given the league Royal Antwerp play their domestic football in, we don’t have much data to go off. For that reason I will be keeping my stakes reasonable low because the Europa League data is a relatively small sample size, however Both Teams To Score looks over priced here at 1.7. Not only because of the fact these two seemed to gel so well together last week, but Antwerp consistently give away chances in the Europa League – but Rangers have given away a lot of goals too! We saw a 3-3, 2-2, 3-2 in the Group stages from Rangers and now a 4-3 in the Last 32. I’m surprised BTTS isn’t close to 1.5.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Both Teams Score at 1.7 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQRanAnt
LEICESTER V SLAVIA PRAGUE
8pm Another game on a knife edge here. I have to say after backing Leicester to beat Slavia Prague last week I was very disappointed with the performance. If anything Slavia Prague could have won the game rather than Leicester but Brendan Rodgers side had to settle for a 0-0 draw. That’s not ideal coming into the second leg and perhaps we’ll see a cagey start from Leicester – conceding would give them a lot of work to do. Much like Royal Antwerp in the game above, the league Slavia Prague play in isn’t covered by xG so we just have the Europa League data to go off. What that shows is they do give away a lot of chances away from home, but they can score goals too.
This should be a tricky evening for Leicester, but I still feel they offer good value at 1.6. It was disappointing to not collect last week, but I’m happy to go back in at 1.6 tonight. I would have them closer to 1.5. They have been excellent in the Premier League this season and they have also been grinding out close games recently which is a good sign heading into this fixture with the pressure on. They have been creating a lot of chances and with Slavia Prague away Europa League figures saying they give away chances, this seems an ideal opportunity to back Leicester.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Leicester to beat Slavia Prague at 1.6 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQLeiSla
MANCHESTER UNITED V REAL SOCIEDAD
8pm We finish the Europa League Last 32 with Man United taking on Real Sociedad. United wrapped up this tie in the first leg with a 4-0 away win, however that doesn’t mean we don’t have any interesting betting or trading angles tonight. With a four goal lead and a very busy fixture list, it’s highly likely we’ll see United opt to rest a lot of players here. I’m sure they will be on the bench in case anything dramatic happens, but we should see a much changed United XI. Sociedad have nothing lose and I suppose the only positive for them is they won 4-0 at the weekend in La Liga – they will need to repeat that feat!
Sociedad created very little in the first leg with an xG of just 0.57. United absolutely bossed that game, however they have played a little disjointed at home in the Premier League this season and with a lot of changes expected, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a slow start for United. You can definitely make the case to back Sociedad at 3.8 from a value point of view; however I like under 2.5 goals here at 2.22. I’m surprised to see it trading that big – I feel United will start slow and while Sociedad have nothing to lose, they failed to create much last week and unless we get an early goal here I can see a boring game with a very low tempo. Realistically United just want to play out the fixture, and while we could see a very open game with an early, I think unders is worth backing at 2.22 as without an early goal we could see a very dull game.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Under 2.5 goals at 2.22 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQMunSoc
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