The Europa League group stages get underway on Thursday with a number of enticing matches involving English clubs, as Liverpool travel to Switzerland to face Young Boys, Newcastle meet Maritimo and Tottenham (14/1 third favourite Europa League outright) take on Lazio.
All three sides have been mentioned as possible winners of the tournament and it’ll certainly be interesting to see how they get on following fairly mediocre starts to their league campaigns.
In one of the early kick-offs, out-of-form Liverpool face perhaps the toughest test of the three sides when they take on Young Boys in Bern (Match Betting – Young Boys 2/1, draw 9/4, Liverpool 11/8).
Much has been made of Brendan Rodgers men’s poor form at the start of the season and the Northern Irish boss still has plenty of questions to answer before proving he’s the right man for the job.
Rodgers will see the Europa League as a chance to relax and will be urging his players to relax during the match at the Stade de Suisse.
However, they definitely won’t have it all their own way and despite their diminishing fortunes at home, the Reds are still seen as a massive draw in Europe and Young Boys will certainly be up for the game.
They also have plenty of experience, having beaten Tottenham on home turf in 2010, and will fancy their chances of getting the campaign off to a winning start.
Despite this Liverpool do still have a lot of class in their ranks and should just sneak it, possibly by a single goal.
The other six o’clock kick-off involving an English side sees Newcastle face Maritimo in Funchal (Match Betting – Maritimo 5/4, draw 11/5, Newcastle 9/4).
This is the first time the Magpies have appeared in Europe for the best part of a decade and it’ll be interesting to see how their relatively small squad can deal with the demands of competing both at home and abroad.
Maritimo should provide the perfect opposition to ease them into the tournament, as although it won’t be easy for Alan Pardew’s men, they should come through with the win.
Expect this one to be cagey affair early doors but for Newcastle’s extra class to eventually shine through and see them claim the three points.
The final English side in action on Thursday is Tottenham who take on Italian side Lazio (Match Betting – Spurs 5/6, draw 5/2, Lazio 10/3).
Despite only being in charge for a few months, Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas is already under pressure but having won this tournament with Porto in 2010, the young coach knows exactly what it takes.
His side will also be full of confidence after claiming their first league win of the campaign against Reading on Sunday and although AVB may opt to rest some of his stars, they will still field a strong team to lift the trophy.
After a few barren seasons, their opponents Lazio are currently enjoying somewhat of a resurgence and finished an impressive fourth in Serie A last term.
They currently have a number of top players in their squad, most notably striker Miroslav Klose, who was recently linked with a move to White Hart Lane and will be looking to prove he can still perform at the top level, despite his advancing years.
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Chelsea can extend their unbeaten record at home in the Champions League group stages to 25 games when they play host to KRC Genk on Wednesday while Arsenal will be looking to protect an impressive away record on French soil against Marseille.
Hearts are outstanding value at 9/2 to use their home advantage to cause a surprise upset against Celtic at Tynecastle on Sunday. Although the top two in the SPL are likely to surge clear from the rest of the pack this season, any side travelling to Hearts will find it tough to bring away anything from their ground.