With the football season beginning a busy period, midweek fixtures are every bit as important as weekend schedules. Whether your team is looking for promotion from the Championship or glory in the Champions League, each match played now is massive.
There are nine Champions League games on Tuesday and a further 31 in the EFL, but we’re looking for a multiple bet across the Wednesday and Thursday matches.
In European competition especially, it’s hard to quantify the different levels of form. We’ve done our best to do that, with only those we see as superior to their opposition backed to win.
Atalanta v Celtic – Weds, 5.45, Champions League
Celtic have an utterly rotten record in this competition. Back in September, they beat Slovan Bratislava 5-1 at Celtic Park which brought forward some optimism, however they were frankly handed a simple win by this new extended format of the competition.
Since that win they’ve been rather predictably demolished (7-1) by Borussia Dortmund and at the weekend lost a two-goal load against Aberdeen.
By contrast, Atalanta won last year’s Europa League, they sit fifth in Serie A, drew at home with Arsenal in this competition and are typically scoring tons of goals at home. They will be dreadfully disappointed if they don’t win this one.
Young Boys v Inter Milan – Weds, 8.00, Champions League
Backing away teams is typically a way to get your multiple beaten, but in this case Inter are way better than their opposition and should be backed.
Since qualifying for this competition, Young Boys’ form has dipped. They now sit tenth in Switzerland with 9 points from 10 games and that is nowhere near the level we should be seeing in Europe’s top competition.
So far, they’ve been comfortably beaten (0-3) at home by Aston Villa and were taken apart last time (5-0) in Barcelona. Inter are second in Serie A and have 4 points from 2 Champions League games, gained by an easy home win and a draw at Man City.
Atletico Madrid v Lille – Weds, 8.00, Champions League
Atletico have been so consistent for so long. Yet again they’ve started well in Spain. They are third behind the usual two with 20 points from 10 games.
They lost heavily at Benfica last time in this competition but beat Leipzig before that. Lille (4th) have 14 points from 8 games in Ligue 1. They managed a massive win against Real Madrid at home last time, but it’s highly likely they won’t be able to repeat those heroics here.
Eintracht Frankfurt v RFS – Thurs, 5.45, Europa League
At around 1/7 this one looks like an obvious home win, but some due diligence is needed.
Eintracht sit sixth in the Bundesliga, starting with 13 points from seven and a positive goal difference. Their Latvian opposition should not be able to live with them at Deutsche Bank Park and we can be satisfied that there should be no mistakes.
Roma v Dynamo Kyiv – Thurs, 5.45, Europa League
Roma have just the single point in the Europa League so far and have scored only once. Still, they sit nine places above their opposition who are 0-2 and haven’t scored yet.
Domestically, it hasn’t been terrific so far. Their recent loss to Inter pushed them down to 11th in Serie A. That was a close game against very good opposition however, and they still have a positive goal difference which makes their place in the table look a little false.
Rapid Vienna v FC Noah – Thurs, 5.45, Conference League
The Armenia side arrive in Vienna above their opposition in 8th place, though the two clubs have the same number of points.
Rapid won away in Istanbul while Noah managed a home success against Mlada Boleslav. This is harder for them, and a look at the two squads seems to confirm that the Austrians are the most likely winners.
Rangers v FCSB – Thurs, 8.00, Europa League
Since their demotion, it’s been very difficult for Rangers to regain traction in Scotland. They won the title under Steven Gerrard and reached a European final too, but they now find themselves third best in a very poor league.
There is definitely a mental block for Rangers domestically just now. Another defeat at Kilmarnock at the weekend was hardly great prep for this assignment, but they raise their game both in Europe, and at home at Ibrox where the crowd will never turn their backs.
With 19 points from 12 games, Steau are only 6th in Romania and that pattern continues when you consider only away games. They’ll make it tough, but Rangers’ home form is good enough and this game is there for the taking.
The Bet
In all, this bet comes to over 7/1 with better prices potentially available if you shop around.
Back: Atalanta, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, Roma, Rapid Vienna, Rangers to win.