There’s trouble in the camp, with Asamoah Gyan pulling out of the squad after being stripped of the captaincy. His return – requested by Ghana’s President – doesn’t mean he’s dropped the issue. The atmosphere probably isn’t great in the fallout of that, while they started off with a 2-2 draw against Benin. That’s left the Black Stars in trouble in their bid to win the group. They could be five points behind Cameroon after this game, especially given that Ghana have lost back to back meetings with Cameroon.
The champions have won four of their last five matches, while they’re on a seven-game unbeaten run in this tournament. They’ve won their last three Africa Cup of Nations games, while they are meeting a Ghana team who have won one of five games in this competition. With issues for Ghana in the squad, we don’t see why the bookies have them as outsiders against a strong Cameroon outfit. Given that, we’re going with Cameroon to win on the Draw No Bet market as our pick for this clash.
Niederkorn, who hail from Luxembourg, have never reached the Europa League proper, though they did prove to be more than the sum of their parts when beating Rangers (over two legs) in qualifying a few years ago. Thursday’s hosts will be hoping to see off welsh opposition, so they can have another crack at decent opposition in the next round.
Beginning the season in the Europa League preliminaries is becoming a bit of a habit for Niederkorn, who’ve now taken part in UEL qualifying in each of the last three seasons. They were also involved back in 2015 too. In 2017, the side from Luxembourg made it further than this stage, as they delivered an upset against Scottish giants Rangers, winning 2-1 aggregate before being narrowly knocked out by AEL of Cyprus.
Ghana’s squad is overflowing with household names and they should simply have too much strength to overcome Benin.
Not only are we talking about the best home attack vs the best away attack, but if we look at the recent attacking efforts of both, it’s easy to feel that the possibility of a relatively high-scoring encounter is greater than the current odds suggest. There’s been no shortage of goals in Albacete’s recent away games, with ten goals being scored in their last three on the road, while the underlying numbers are encouraging too. In their last three travelling matches, Albacete have averaged 1.71 expected goals for, while they’ve conceded an average of 2.21.
Norway have their own defensive issues. They’ve conceded at least twice in every game in this qualifying group. The visitors have conceded a goal in four of their last five away games, while they struggled to keep a clean sheet in a poor World Cup qualifying group, only managing to shut out San Marino. We expect the visitors to have more defensive issues here, while the Faroes have scored in every game in this group so far. That has us backing both teams to score here.
Latvia have the home advantage in Friday nights Euro 2020 qualifier, but have only beaten Israel once in six previous encounters, and head into the match in the midst of a ten game winless run. Israel look like they could qualify for their first ever European Championships as they sit second after two games with four points to their name and have a balanced squad.
Latvia only had 31% of the possession in their last qualifier away at Poland, but still managed to have thirteen shots during the ninety minutes. In the end though, the host’s pressure told as Poland scored twice late on through Lewandowski and Glik to claim a 2-0 win. A early goal from Arnautović saw Israel fall behind at home to Austria last time out, but a Zahavi brace ensured the hosts lead 2-1 at the interval. Zahavi claimed his hat trick and with it the match balled ten minutes into the second half to increase Israel’s lead, and Dabour made it 4-1 in the sixty-sixth minute. Arnautović pulled another goal back to make it 4-2, but it proved too little, too late for the Austrians.
The head to head record between these two countries and their form and performances since the back end of 2018, all point towards both teams scoring on Friday and Israel claiming the three points. Israel have won four of their six matches against Latvia, and four of the six encounters between the pair have seen both teams score. Latvia are without a win in their last ten international matches, while Israel have only lost one of their last six. Both teams have scored in three of Latvia’s and four of Israel’s last six matches, which is why we’re backing the visitors to claim a 3-1 win on Friday and maintaining their unbeaten start to qualification.
Valērijs Šabala provides the main source of goals for Latvia, with the 24-year old netting twelve times in fifty-one appearances for his country, and is someone the Israeli defence will be more than aware of heading into Friday’s match. Israel are without their main striker Tomer Hemed through injury, so there is more pressure on the likes of Ben Sahar and Eran Zahavi to put the finishing touches to any attacking moves on Friday. We’re confident that Israel will win and both teams will score, and have predicted a final scoreline of 3-1. The visitors have a great record against their hosts and have started qualification positively, while Latvia are without a win in their last ten matches and wont be expected to challenge for one of the top two qualifying spots.
FLAMENGO is odds-on favourite for this match. CORINTHIANS goes as a clear outsider in the game and we have absolutely no doubt about who will win this at the end of the match. So we think there´s no reason to cover this bet with a possible draw.
Arsenal: The Gunners will be a bit shorthanded in this one. Aaron Ramsey, who is set for a move to Juventus this summer on a free transfer, will miss the game due to injury. Meanwhile, Henrikh Mkhitaryan won't travel with the team due to fears for this safety as a result of the tense relations between his birth nation Armenia and the host nation Azerbaijan.
Chelsea: Remember that friendly that Chelsea played in the United States last week? Yeah, now it's fine to question whether the timing was right. Ruben Loftus-Cheek tore his Achilles in that game, and star midfielder N'Golo Kante picked up a knee injury that puts his participation in this one up in the air, according to the Daily Express. Besides Eden Hazard, Kante is Chelsea's most important player and the engine in the middle. If he can't go, it's a huge boost for Arsenal.
Newport County may well be the form side going into this match, but we feel that Tranmere have the edge in this contest. The Super White Army have a solid defensive platform to build from and a striker who has proven to be the most adept at finding the back of the net in the division. Given that they are fresh off accomplishing play-off glory last season, we do not believe the pressure will play a huge part so backing Rovers to claim the win in 90 minutes appears to represent the best opportunity for a decent return.
Lyon beat Nîmes 2-0 when these teams last met in October but we’re backing a much more even game, considering the form. With Lyon’s season pretty much wrapped up following their win against Caen, we think that Nîmes are in with a great chance here, as they will still have the hunger to win, whereas their opponents probably have one foot on the beach. As a result we’re going to back Nîmes with a double chance bet as we think they’ll draw 2-2 with Lyon. Les Gones are in great form but haven’t been short of an embarrassing result or two this season and with this essentially a meaningless game, we think they could slip up on the south coast. Nîmes are also unbeaten in their last eight home games so could surprise Lyon here.
Ultimately, whilst this should be quite a hard tie to call over the two legs, when analysing this fixture is a standalone clash, it becomes far more apparent who the most likely winners are, and that’s Union Espanola. They are in good form and are typically strong on home soil, meaning they have to be considered favourites on the night.
All things considered, backing the hosts to win looks to provide good value and is something we’re more than happy to do. Sporting Cristal’s struggles on the road are simply too awful to ignore and we can’t envisage anything other than them falling to defeat once again, with a 3-1 margin of home victory on the cards. Union know this is a match they really need to be winning by a comfortable margin and should play in an aggessive, attacking manner to ensure they do exactly that.
The visitors are currently top of the away league table, while they meet a St Pats side who have had a mixed return at their own ground this term. They have lost three times in front of their own support, including a 3-0 defeat against Waterford in their last game here. That doesn’t bode well, neither does the fact that the hosts have conceded seven times in their last four home matches.
The Bohs come here with an excellent defensive record, keeping a clean sheet in 75% of their trips. They’ve managed to edge games on the road this term, winning four of their last five matches on their travels without conceding. They are coming off a run of two 1-0 wins in three meetings with St Pats, so we’re backing the visitors to win to nil here. They’ve won to nil in 62% of their away games, so we think the visitors are well priced to pull that off again.
Making the trip to the Lerkendal Stadion is a Haugesund side who will have pretty modest expectations for what the season holds for them but who will know that they have made a pretty solid start to the campaign. Like their hosts, the visitors are not exactly known for their ability in front of goal and although they have found the back of the net 10 times this season, just four of those goals have come on the road.
The hosts may not be in a particularly positive frame of mind at the moment due to their poor start, but there are small signs of recovery starting to appear. If Rosenborg are to continue their recovery, then building from the back is important and given that they have only conceded once on home soil so far this season and their visitors have only managed four goals on the road, we think that backing there to be less than 2.5 goals scored is the way to go.
Man City have won their last 13 League games in a row - an incredible run, but one which to an extent masks the fact that Guardiola's Guardiola's side have squeaked through their last three League outings with nervy 1-0 wins.
Those results are so often the hallmark of champions, but Guardiola will want to see a calmer, more professional display from his team on the south coast after watching them almost succumb to nerves against Leicester.
While Brighton sealed an impressive 1-1 draw at Arsenal last weekend, the Seagulls - currently 17th - are safe, and only have the prospect of potentially finishing 16th to play for.
Though Chris Hughton's men will not be pushovers on their own turf, it is difficult to look beyond an away win for City to clinch the title.
Can South Africa secure their place in the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations when they clash with Morocco on Monday? Group leaders Morocco are already through to the next round, but will they wrap up the first stage with a 100% record? They’ve made a fine start, boosting their chances of going all the way in this tournament. Morocco’s focus is now turning to the knockout round, but can they claim the point they need to secure first place and a potentially easier last 16 tie?
South Africa were able to return to winning ways in their last game, claiming a 1-0 victory over Namibia. That has them positioned in the top three, as they look to book a last 16 place. They know that third could be enough to take them through the group stage, but three points should certainly book their progression into the next round. Even a point could secure their place as one of the best third-place finishers, so can they hold on and get a result against a side who have won two from two?