Hosts Egypt continue their push for glory this week, as they prepare for their second game of the group stage. The favourites for glory are heading into this clash hoping to build on a narrow 1-0 victory over Zimbabwe in the tournament opener. There’s plenty of pressure on Egypt to deliver in front of their supporters, as they have a lot to live up to. Can Egypt claim three points in this clash and book their place in the last 16 of the competition?
Egypt are certainly a side to fear in this competition, with seven titles to their name. They were brilliant during their golden period between 2006 and 2010, winning all three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in that period. They were hosts in 2006, which kicked off a period of domination across African football. Can the 2017 runners-up kick off a new era by claiming the title this summer?
YES
Brazil suffered their first setback of the tournament in midweek, as they drew 0-0 with Venezuela. They could have booked their place in the next round with a win, but now they’re left facing a must-win finale. The hosts are chasing a victory to follow up their success against Bolivia in the opening match. With the hosts desperate to land some silverware following a few poor World Cup campaigns, they can’t afford to drop more points in the group stage.
Peru made it to the 2018 World Cup, picking up plenty of admirers along the way. They’ve been impressive contenders at the Copa America in recent years, including taking their place in the last eight in the 2016 tournament. That run included a success over Brazil, as they won 1-0 on their way to the quarters. Could Peru pull off a similar result this weekend in order to leave the Brazilians in huge trouble?
Brazil will be disappointed to fail to score against Venezuela in their last game, having dominated the clash. They were able to get two-thirds of possession and create chances, but they only hit two shots on target in that game. That’s a major issue for the hosts to sort out, especially given how the whole country expects them to finally deliver success on home soil. That expectation went unfulfilled at the 2014 World Cup, leaving fans of the Samba stars desperate for success this summer.
Peru have now drawn back to back games 0-0 at this tournament, following their draw with Venezuela at the weekend. That was their third straight clean sheet in this competition, following a 0-0 with Colombia and a 1-0 success over Brazil. That streak of low scoring games is something they can continue in this clash, especially against a Bolivia side who have failed to score in six of their last seven matches.
Peru have kept a clean sheet in three of their last five clashes, while their three World Cup matches last summer saw just four goals scored in total. We expect another low scoring clash with neither side looking great in front of goal. We expect the pair to play out another game low on excitement, with four of Peru’s last five seeing under 2.5 goals. We’re backing the same again in Tuesday’s meeting.
Italy have kept four clean sheets at home, while Bosnia have failed to score in four straight away games. We doubt that Roma forward Edin Dzeko will come as too much of a surprise to the Italian defence, neither will Juventus play-maker Miralem Pjanic. We expect the Italians to shut down the visitors and claim another positive result. We’re backing Italy to win to nil in this clash, as the Mancini bounce continues.
Ultimately, we’re expecting a very open game on Sunday and both sides are likely to go all out in search of the 3 points. Man for man, Flamengo are the stronger of the two on paper and will be looking to prove exactly that on the pitch but Fluminense don’t have it in their nature to sit back and defend and will be looking to give their local rivals a run for their money.
All things considered, backing both teams to score looks an excellent way to play as far as the betting is concerned and is exactly where our money is going. The last 3 meetings between the two have all seen goals at either end and with 5 of Flu’s last 7 outings overall having done the same, as well as 4 of Flamengo’s last 6 away games, it’s hard to see anything but a high scoring game, with a 2-2 draw on the cards.
The sides have already met 4 times this season in the Campeonato Carioca. The last two meetings were at the semi-final stage of said competition and saw Flamengo beat Fluminense 3-2 on aggregate. The last 3 meetings between the two have seen goals at both ends.
Dijon have been battling to stay in the division for another year and have been horrible this season so it’s no surprise that they finished 18th in the league. However, some expected Dijon to finish even lower than 18th and with them only securing this play-off via their final day beating of Toulouse (2-1) plus the help of Caen losing, they will go into this fixture with some wind in their sails following the drama of the final day.
Over the last few weeks Dijon have been susceptible to some very poor results with fellow relegation strugglers Caen beating them 1-0 a few weeks ago and average sides like Nantes thrashing them 3-0. However, Dijon have won four of their last eight matches with wins over Lyon, Rennes and Strasbourg being rather impressive feats alongside their Toulouse victory. Dijon have an absolutely horrible away record which could them back here though. They only picked up twelve of their 34 points this season on the road and with seven of their last eight away matches ending in defeat, Lens should fancy themselves here.
Lens have beaten Paris FC and ESTAC Troyes in the play-offs so far to get to this stage, which is quite the achievement considering that these opponents finished in 3rd and 4th above Lens in the table. Lens only finished 5th and in with a chance of a play-off promotion by having a better goal-difference than FC Lorient but they have made the most of the opportunity and completely deserve this two-legged affair with Dijon, despite only scraping past Paris and Troyes via penalties and extra-time.
Chelsea know full well the damage Lacazette especially is capable of doing, the Frenchman opened the scoring with a fine solo effort in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over the Blues in the Premier League back in January.
The two London giants have met before in European competition, with Chelsea running out 3-2 aggregate winners in the Champions League quarter-finals back in the 2003/04 campaign.
The visitors have been in mixed form on the road in 2019, but they have scored in seven of nine away trips in Serie A since the turn of the year. They come here looking to edge out a SPAL side who have the fourth-worst home record in the league. Despite that, the hosts have managed to score in their last seven here, during which they’ve faced Napoli, Juventus, Lazio and Roma. SPAL have scored in their last 10 league games, so we expect them to find the net against this desperate Milan outfit. We’re backing both teams to score when these two meet on Sunday.
AC Milan’s Krzysztof Piatek (currently on nine goals with the Rossoneri) could become the first player in Serie A history to score at least 10 goals with two different teams in the same league season (scored 13 with Genoa). He hit one of those Genoa goals against SPAL in the first half of the campaign, while he returned to form last weekend with a goal. We see Milan relying on the forward in this trip, so we’re backing Piatek to score here.
Gustafson top scores for the hosts with ten Eredivisie goals this season, but eight of them have arrived in the form of penalties. Linssen leads the way for Vitesse with twelve league goals this season, with Bero and Ødegaard chipping in with nine goal each. We’re confident that both teams will score and over 2.5 goals will be produced in Friday’s match, and have predicted a final scoreline of 2-2. Both teams are playing well, scoring goals, and not keeping an awful lot of clean sheets at this moment in time, which should make for an action packed, end to end, game of football on Friday night.
After a turbulent season, Inter come here hoping they can finish on a high. They’ve been in good form of late, but overall there have been problems. Inter’s 1-0 win over Napoli at home is their only success over the top five, while they’ve already lost five times on the road this term. Ignoring their clashes with the bottom two, Inter’s last 10 games have seen them score 11 goals. They’ve been seriously lacking up front with Icardi marginalised, which isn’t great preparation for this trip.
Meanwhile, Napoli are set to finish the campaign with the second best home record in the division. They’ve racked up 12 wins in 18 home games, while they’ve lost just twice here. The Partenopei come into this one with three straight wins behind them, so we can see them doing a job on Inter. We’re backing the hosts Draw No Bet on Sunday night, while we’re also going for a 2-1 victory for the side from Naples.
With 16 minutes to go at Villa Park on Saturday, West Brom were coasting towards a huge victory. However, a dramatic last 15 minutes has left them as rank outsiders in this tie. They need to turn around a 2-1 defeat in the first leg, while they have to do it without forward Dwight Gayle after his red card. It was an impressive result for Villa, who made a switch in approach to get themselves in pole position to reach Wembley. Will they book a place in the playoff final for the second season running?
West Brom went under the radar in their Championship campaign, while they nearly pulled off a major shock against a Villa side who have been widely tipped to go up. Now the Baggies are left with a huge challenge at the Hawthorns on Tuesday night. Their record in front of goal at home this term suggests they have the firepower to turn it around, but the absence of Gayle is a blow to that. Jay Rodriguez is the only striker West Brom can call upon here, while they have major defensive issues troubling them.
Chievo coming into this one following a 4-0 home defeat by SPAL, the temptation here is to back a high scoring clash. That should be the outcome between these two, but goals haven’t been easy for an Inter side who have Serie A’s most clinical finisher in their ranks. The hosts have had a tough campaign in terms of goals, scoring 23 times in 17 at home. It’s not the greatest record going forward, while it has been rescued by their fantastic defensive record here.
Having let in just nine goals at home this season, Inter are stellar at the back at San Siro. They should have little issue against a Chievo outfit who have scored only 11 away goals this season. However, Chievo were able to hold them to a 1-1 draw at home earlier in the season. Inter come into this clash having seen under 2.5 goals in nine of their last 10 home games, with fewer than three scored in 71% of their games here overall. That makes us think that under 2.5 is huge value, while we see a 2-0 home win.
In the aforementioned solid vein of form between January and March they managed to be fluid in the final third and score a high number of goals. Their defence was still very leaky but the attacking prowess of Rémi Oudin and Co. helped them on their way. Now that the goals have dried up, they are really suffering and could drop out of the top ten if they’re not careful.
Reims have scored just two goals in their last six games and with them travelling to a very resolute Caen side, we doubt they’ll find their attacking feet here. Caen are on a run of three consecutive clean sheets and with such a big prize on the line, we’re backing the home side to win 1-0.
However, if the Elephants are clicking right now, there could be bigger issues down the line. As they prepare to face one of the best defences in the competition, Ivory Coast should be worried about how they’re performing up top. After all, Morocco kept four clean sheets in their last five qualifiers, while they’ve started as they mean to go on in Egypt with a shut out in their first game. Will they be able to pull off a result against the Ivory Coast?
Morocco have won the last two meetings, including a win at the 2017 Cup of Nations. They haven’t conceded to Ivory Coast in three straight games, while the Elephants have issues of their own here. While they had a winning run at home leading up to the tournament, their previous six away matches before heading Egypt saw five draws. We expect them to have trouble against Morocco on neutral ground, so we’re backing Morocco Double Chance here.