Europa League Qualifying 1st Round
While most teams are just resuming training a lot of others have forsaken the beach to try and qualify for the Europa Cup and the second leg of the first round ties take place tonight. We’re taking a look at the British teams in action as well as giving one or two other selections at decent odds.
SPL team Motherwell were surprisingly beaten by Welsh league side Llanelli in the first leg in Scotland last week. Llanelli defended in numbers and relied on the odd breakaway and set pieces to create chances and their staunch defensive work was rewarded when they scored from a corner.
Motherwell looked well off the pace and although they huffed and puffed created very little clear cut chances. We expect Llanelli to use the same tactics that were successful in the first leg and although we don’t think they will win 4/1 (Skybet) we reckon they can get a draw 5/2 (Coral).
We’re not expecting too many goalscoring opportunities tonight and we’re having a bet on the under 2.5 goals at 11/10 (Skybet). We’re also going for a bet on the correct score of 1-1 11/2 (Ladbrokes).Ross Forbes 16/1 (Ladbrokes) could be worth a little bet to be first goalscorer.
Another Welsh team The New Saints have also given themselves a chance to qualify, They trail Icelandic side Fram 2-1 from the first leg and with an away goal in the bag they could be worth backing at 6/5 (Paddypower). We’re going for TNS to win 2-0 9/1 (Ladbrokes) and get through to the next round.
Northern Irish side Lisburn were thrashed 5-1 in Ireland by Georgian outfit Zestaponi we’re going for the Georgians to win 2-0 5/1 (Coral).
It was a bad night for the Northern Irish as Linfield were comprehensively beaten 4-0 by Randers in Denmark. Linfield ran out of stem late in the match in Denmark and we think they could be better for that game and so we’re going for a win for Linfield 3/1 (Paddypower). The correct score of 1-0 looks attractive at 10/1 (Paddypower).
Sligo Rovers travel to Albania trailing 2-1 to Vllaznia and we think Evens (Coral) for a home win looks to be good value as they played well enough in the first leg in Ireland.
In other matches taking place we think there can be home wins for Inter Baku 10/11 (Skybet) and for FK Renova 15/8 (Paddypower).
Helsingborg 8/11 (Coral) and Haladas 11/8 (Skybet) should both come away with wins in their matches.
Valetta of Malta travel to Iceland holding a 3-0 first leg lead and they can win again away from home at a decent price of 9/2 (Ladbrokes). They won the first match pretty comprehensively and were good going forward and we’re taking them to win 2-1 at odds of 18/1 (Ladbrokes).