Europa League Matches Wednesday/Thursday
Wednesday
Everton travel to Greece tonight to play AEK Athens really needing to take something from the game to put them in the driving seat for qualification. Three points for Everton would all but see them qualify, but there has t be serious doubts that they can achieve this.
Everton beat AEK 4-0 at Goodison, but the Greek side doesn’t do well away from home. They are a completely different side when playing in Athens and at 19/10 (Ladbrokes) appear to be very well priced. Everton’s current for has to be a worry and having taken a thumping defeat away to Benfica, then also losing at home to them, they will have to show far more resilience.
A defeat for AEK tonight would mean they go out of the competition and we can’t see that happening. Given Everton’s current form the 6/4 (Bet365) about the away win looks far too short and even the draw 23/10 (Coral) doesn’t make great appeal.
We’re predicting a home win for AEK and think a 2-1 correct score bet 9/1 (Paddypower) could bring a return. Our selection to be first goalscorer is going to be Grigoris Makos 33/1 (Paddypower).
Celtic have had a horrendous European campaign and are still looking for their first win in the Europa League. They will be looking to lift themselves off the foot of the table with a win against Hapoel Tel Aviv in Glasgow, but home form has been a problem for them this season and this is not going to be easy for Celtic.
Hapoel top the group with 9 points and have averaged three goals a game, while Celtic have two points and only managed two goals from their four matches. A bet on both teams to score tonight 4/5 (Skybet) looks to have every chance of coming up, while taking the over 2.5 goals 17/20 (Bet365) is another bet we like.
At 4/5 (Paddypower) we think Celtic are too short a price to bet on heavily and we think a small bet on Hapoel Tel Aviv at 7/2 (Bet365) has as much chance as a Celtic win.
Hapoel have only lost to Hamburg away and beat Rapid Vienna 3-0 away from home and we believe they will run out winners tonight. We’re going for an away win and think a bet on a 3-1 win 66/1 (Coral). In the first goalscorer betting Samuel Yeboah 9/1 (Bet365) and Barry Robson 16/1 (Skybet) are the two that catch our eye at decent prices.
Thursday
Fulham can give their qualification hopes a boost with a win over CSKA Sofia at Craven Cottage. Fulham have managed to score a goal in every match and if they can get one we tonight we think that might just be enough to get them the three points. The home win is on offer at 3/10 (Coral) and we can’t really see any other outcome. We do think it might be worth betting on Fulham to win to Nil 10/11 (Paddypower).
We’re predicting a home win with a 2-0 scoreline 5/1 (Coral). Damien Duff 17/2 (Bet365) is our selection to be first goalscorer.
Werder Bremen have already qualified for the next stage and they can win the group with a home win against Nacional of Portugal. That looks extremely likely for the German side who have yet to taste defeat in the group and we have to select the home win for Werder at odds of 2/5 (Coral).
We’re having a bet on Werder Bremen to win 3-1 11/1 (Skybet) as well as the over 2.5 goals at 4/7 (Coral).