Arsenal to beat Crvena Zvezda – 5/6
After Liverpool’s 7-0 demolition of Maribor on Tuesday night, one could be fooled into thinking that a trip into the wilds of Eastern Europe is an easy one for English clubs these days.
Well, that is definitely not the case for Arsenal as they face-off against Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade to you and me) in Serbia tonight.
Red Star have only been defeated once in their last 11 games in European ties and are currently on a 15-game unbeaten run at the Rajko Mitić Stadium.
However, if there’s one thing Arsene Wenger knows what to do, it’s how to get Arsenal out of the group stages in Europe – having achieved the feat in every season since the 2003-04 campaign. (Let’s not talk about what happens to them afterwards in the Round of 16 though, we’re trying to be positive here.)
It won’t be without drama, but we fancy the Gunners to get over a misfire against Watford and continue their perfect record in Group H with a win at 5/6 here. If you’re hunting for a little more value though, an Arsenal win with both teams scoring could land you a tasty 12/5 shot.
Everton and Lyon to draw – 5/2
Oh Everton, where do we begin!
It wasn’t meant to be like this for The Toffees after spending around £150m and seeing their favourite son Wayne Rooney return in the summer. This was supposed to be the season they were plotting to break into the top six and maybe even hunt an unlikely Champions League spot under Ronald Koeman.
The reality is the Dutchman is now on the brink of the sack as Everton sit 16th in the Premier League and he could have seen the exit door already, if not for a late penalty from Rooney against Brighton on Sunday.
The Merseyside outfit simply have to win tonight if they are to have any hope of progressing in the Europa League as they sit bottom of Group E with only a single point. Luckily for them, they meet a woefully out of form Lyon suffering from an Alexandre Lacazette-sized hangover.
Goodison Park isn’t the easiest place to go at the best of times, never mind when you only have one victory in your last six outings like the French outfit have. However, you just can’t trust The Toffees to come out of their sticky patch and we reckon the draw at 5/2 is the best place to put your hard-earned here.
By the way, Koeman is 1/3 to be the next Premier League boss to be axed and if his charges fail to deliver three points tonight, they might be good odds on him not to see the dugout for Sunday’s game with Arsenal.
Think you can do better? Find our Europa League odds at PaddyPower.com* All odds correct at time of posting.