*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
Thursday night sees the return of the Europa League and we’re taking a look here at three of the British teams in action. Leicester City face a tough challenge at Slavia Prague while Spurs are away to Austrian side Wolfsberger. The last leg of our treble features runaway Scottish league leaders Rangers, who are in Belgium to face an Antwerp side that have won four of their last five home matches.
Let’s have a look at the stats and form to find some value in the markets.
17:55: Slavia Prague v Leicester – Both Teams to Score
Slavia Prague are enjoying a strong run of form, losing just one of their last 19 matches in all competitions. Leicester too are in mighty form, they’ve lost just two over their last 15 in all competitions and with them being from a far stronger league, they come into this one as favourites. The Foxes haven’t been backed into short odds yet though as the market is quite aware of just how strong Prague are at home.
Thursday 17:55: Slavia Prague v Leicester
BT Sport ESPN
Over the past four seasons in the Europa League, Slavia have lost just one of their nine home matches – to Chelsea in 2019. They’ve beaten the likes of Sevilla, Leverkusen and Zenit on home turf and won’t fear Leicester here. Slavia have scored at least two goals in all of their seven most recent home matches while Leicester have scored at least one in eight out of their last nine on their travels in all competitions. Leicester are the better team on paper, no doubt about that, but we’re going to play it safe here and go with what’s a pretty decent price for Both Teams to Score.
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17.55: Wolfsberger v Tottenham – Both Teams to Score and Spurs to Win
Normally Wolfsberger wouldn’t be much of a challenge for a Spurs side but Jose Mourinho’s team have now won just one of their last six in all competitions, a 2-0 home win over West Brom, and even Wolfsberger would probably be able to achieve that.
Mourinho is likely to rotate his starting XI here with Gareth Bale, Lucas Moura and Dele Alli all rumoured to be starting. You have to ask though, do these players have the motivation to give their boss a selection headache or are they more concerned with where they’ll be playing next season?
Thursday 17:55: Wolfsberger v Tottenham
BT Sport 2
Spurs need to get back to winning matches though and what will surely be the difference here is the calibre of the contrasting players from the Austrian Bundesliga and the Premier League. The ‘hosts’ (this game will actually take place in Budapest, Hungary) have failed to score in three out of four home matches but Spurs rarely keep a clean sheet on the road.
They’ve none over their last five away matches and only three of their last 15 on the road, two of which were against Marine and West Brom, so there’s nothing to boast about there. It’s a little against the market but the price on Both Teams to Score and Spurs to Win looks like good value, especially with the amount of goals Spurs have been conceding of late.
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20.00: Antwerp v Rangers – Over 2.5 Goals
Antwerp sit second in their league but are 13 points behind and their best chance of silverware this season is going for broke in the Europa League. Both teams are in good form, Antwerp have lost just one of their last five at home while Rangers have now gone six without defeat on their travels. The market is favouring the away side as their overall form is far superior, indeed Rangers have lost just one of their last 39 matches in all competitions.
Thursday 20.00: Antwerp v Rangers
BT Sport 3
They’re going to have to work hard for the victory though, Antwerp don’t often fail to score at home and four out of five previous home matches have seen Over 2.5 goals landing. For Rangers, three out of their four most recent on the road saw Both Teams to Score occurring, and it also occurred in four of Antwerp’s five matches. BTTS isn’t offering any value, but with the scoring records of both teams we prefer the look of Over 2.5 goals.
Thursday’s Europa League treble:
17:55: Slavia Prague v Leicester – Both Teams to Score
17.55: Wolfsberger v Tottenham – Both Teams to Score and Spurs to Win
20.00: Antwerp v Rangers – Over 2.5 Goals
All three of these picks into a Treble with Paddy Power will give you odds of around 8/1.
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