In The Mixer: Experts combine for 98/1 Europa acca
Sports Journalist at FST, Gareth qualified as a journalist after graduating from university and spent over a decade as a freelance broadcast journalist, commentator and tipster before joining FST. Now living in Manchester, he is a long suffering Bolton Wanderers fan who also enjoys boxing, the NBA, tennis and rugby league.
In The Mixer is FST’s weekly column where we catch up with our team of football betting experts and get their opinion on the hot topic of the week.
Our experts came up with the goods at the weekend as a huge 85/1 Experts’ Accumulator Tip landed and we thought we’d give them another crack on Thursday for the Europa League and Europa Conference League fixtures.
For this midweek edition we have a team of five providing their tips rather than the usual six, but a few bold selections means this Experts’ Europa Accumulator is priced at 98/1.
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Experts’ Europa Accumulator Tip
Aaron Rogan
PAOK v Club Brugge
Best Bet: PAOK to win and BTTS
PAOK are chasing a place in the Europa Conference League final in Athens but they have to turnaround a 1-0 defeat in this quarter-final second-leg. The hosts have won five of their last six at home in this competition, despite conceding in their last four.
Club Brugge lost at Molde in the last round and they have scored in their last six Conference League trips. The Belgian side have picked up just one win across their last seven away games, losing 2-1 in two of their last three on the road. Off the back of that stretch, PAOK to win and concede looks like the standout bet.
Phil Agius
Marseille v Benfica
Best Bet: Draw
Marseille’s 2-1 defeat to Benfica in the first leg of their Europa League was their fifth successive reverse in all competitions but they competed well enough and should be able to break that string of losses at home in the second leg.
Whether they can be expected to win the game and at least force extra-time is debatable though and taking the draw at 13-5 looks the best value of the three options in the match result market.
Only one of Marseille’s recent defeats came at the Stade Velodrome and that was against Paris St-Germain. It was their first home league loss of the season (eight wins, five draws) and the French club are unbeaten at home in the Europa League this season.
Benfica drew 0-0 at Toulouse in the playoff round of this competition and another draw in France would suit them just fine as they protect their narrow advantage.
Liam Flin
Roma v Milan
Best Bet: Milan win
Roma were surprise 1-0 winners against Milan in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final matchup but that result went against the run of play and the reverse fixture should go the way of the Rossoneri.
Milan were on a seven-game winning run prior to the first leg, having beaten the likes of Lazio and Fiorentina, and they dominated their opponents at the San Siro, where they won the shot count 25-10.
Milan followed up with a frenetic 3-3 draw with Sassuolo in Serie A on Sunday but they can return to winning ways on Thursday with Roma having won only two of their last five Europa League contests in 90 minutes.
When these sides met in the league back in September, Milan were 2-1 winners at the Stadio Olimpico and they can repeat the feat in Europe.
James Milton
Fiorentina v Plzen
Best Bet: Fiorentina win to nil
Fiorentina endured a frustrating quarter-final first leg away to Viktoria Plzen, who mustered just three attempts at goal but defended in numbers to secure a 0-0 draw.
La Viola had 73 per cent of possession in the Czech Republic but were unable to create any clear chances and they may have to be patient in order to break down their visitors on Thursday.
Having worked so hard for their stalemate in the first leg, Plzen are unlikely to turn on the style in Florence – both legs of their last-16 tie against Servette also finished goalless – so Fiorentina to win to nil looks the best bet.
The Serie A side have kept clean sheets against in-form Bologna and Atalanta in their last two Coppa Italia ties and should find a way past an outstanding Plzen defence who have conceded only three goals in 15 Europa Conference League matches this season.
Will Maxwell
Fenerbahce v Olympiakos
Best Bet: Both teams to score
A tight encounter is expected in Istanbul when Olympiacos travel to the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium to face a Fenerbahce side that has lost just two games at home all season.
The Yellow Canaries almost completed a second half comeback against their Greek opponents in the first leg, recovering from 3-0 down to lose 3-2 and give themselves a fighting chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of a European competition for only the second time in their history – with their last final four appearance coming in the 2012/13 Europa League.
Olympiacos meanwhile have won five of their last six on the road, including an unbelievable 6-1 victory at Maccabi Tel Aviv – overturning a 4-1 first leg loss to progress to the next round via a 7-5 aggregate scoreline.
Both sides have struggled to keep clean sheets on the continental stage and, with a winner difficult to call, the “Both Teams to Score” market may be the bet that brings the most value.
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