The UEFA Europa League group stage reaches its halfway point this week as teams prepare to play their third game of the group.
This means that after this matchday teams will have more of an understanding of what position they will be playing for in the following three games, leaving sides wanting this win more than ever to stay in the race to advance to the knockouts.
With this, we are likely to get some exciting games and we’ve picked out our five top tips for Thursday’s games:
Brighton & Hove Albion to win, 1.33 (at time of writing)
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Ajax
Brighton haven’t been in the best of form in the past few weeks with them currently on a five game winless streak, but the performances have still been positive in this time. Out of these five games, Brighton have put up a better xG performance than their opposition in three of them.
In comparison to Ajax’s performances and results as of late, a five game winless run doesn’t look all that bad. Ajax have won just two of their 11 games so far this season, leaving the four time UEFA Champions League winners in the relegation places in the Eredivisie as they sit 17th. This game against Brighton will be their first game under their new boss after Maurice Steijn was sacked on Monday. With all of this factored in, its hard to see any result other than a Brighton win at the Amex Stadium on Thursday.
Darwin Nunez to score anytime, 1.85
Darwin Nunez has started both of Liverpool’s Europa League matches this season, and is coming off the back of an impressive few weeks. Coming off the bench to get an assist against Everton on the weekend, the Uruguayan has scored two and got two assists in his last four games for club and country. With Liverpool’s superior quality to Toulouse, we expect Nunez will get his fair amount of chances and firmly expect him to score.
Romelu Lukaku to score anytime, 2.00
Romelu Lukaku has been nothing other than magnificent since joining Roma this season with the Belgian scoring seven goals in his first nine games, including two in the Europa League. With both Roma and Lukaku coming into this game in good form, with Roma winning their last four and Lukaku scoring six in his last six for club and country, we believe Lukaku will get on the scoresheet once again in this game.
Bayer Leverkusen and over 2.5 goals, 1.39
Bayer Leverkusen vs Qarabag FK
Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen have been arguably the best side in Europe so far this season, with them only dropping points once in a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich. Leverkusen’s performances have certainly matched their results too, as they’ve scored 25 in their eight Bundesliga matches and six in their first two Europa League games. Having scored more than 2.5 goals in four of their last six outings, we expect Bayer Leverkusen to do this once again.
West Ham United to win, 2.30
West Ham United are unbeaten in Group A so far as they’ve managed to win both of their opening games, with their last win against Freiburg setting a new record for the longest unbeaten run in European competition for an English club as they’ve gone 17 without losing. In comparison, Olympiacos are yet to win in the group as they drew their opener and lost in their most recent game to Freiburg. With all of this in mind, we believe West Ham will extend their unbeaten record to 18 and grab yet another win.
Booking Code: 5LS72RD (odds: 15.73)
