The international break may have felt like an age for some, but club football is back and the fixtures keep coming. After the domestic leagues were back at the weekend, it’s time for the European competitions to return. The English sides have had a pretty solid start in the Champions League, but can they continue that going in to the crucial double header games?
Manchester City face the toughest test, as they head to Barcelona. Arsenal have a pretty straightforward game against the group minnows, i.e. the game they usually lose. Elsewhere there’s more top European action at the King Power, and Tottenham are away from home, as they are in every European game now. We’ve looked ahead to the four games involving English clubs and we’ve picked out a betting tip on each.
Tuesday 18th October 2016
Bayer Leverkusen v Tottenham (19:45) – Draw (23/10 with Coral)
Tottenham are in one of the tightest groups in this season’s Champions League, but they could move a lot closer to qualifying with a positive result in Leverkusen. Despite losing their opening game at home (well, at Wembley) to Monaco, Spurs are second in the group and a point ahead of Bayer. That’s because the Premier League side won away at CSKA Moscow, while the Germans drew in France. Can they build on that win in Russia with a victory here, or will the Bundesliga side claim their first win of the campaign?
The Premier League side won the only ever meeting between these two, but that was a UEFA Cup game 10 years ago. So far Spurs have had a mixed pair of results. With Monaco looking strong domestically and in Europe, you’d expect that they’ll take charge of the group. That means these two are fighting it out for second place. A point here would probably be enough for Spurs, as long as they can claim a home win. Since Bayer have drawn four consecutive games in the Champions League, we’re backing the draw at 23/10 with Coral.
Leicester v Copenhagen (19:45) – Leicester to win (5/6 with Bet365)
Champions League football at the King Power is a wonderful alleviation to the sport’s current problems. While the major sides desperately try to carve up this competition for their own gain, Leicester are just here to have fun. They’re having quite a lot of it, after winning both their games so far. Copenhagen are their closest challengers in the group, can they beat them and move to the verge of qualifying for the next round? It’s hard to think of a reason why the Premier League champions can’t win here. Their European form is vastly different to their league woes.
While they’ve been very poor in the league, their European displays have been fantastic. They are the kind of vibrant performances they put in last season. They are also much better defensively than they were a year ago, and they’re yet to concede a goal in the Champions League. While that will be tested against a good Copenhagen side, we are backing the Foxes to take another win. You’d expect the Premier League champions to win a game like this, and Chelsea showed last season that these groups are winnable, even with some poor domestic form. A home win is 5/6 with Bet365, and it’s our tip in this one.
Wednesday 19th October 2016
Arsenal v Ludogorets (19:45) – Arsenal -2 (11/10 with Betfair)
The Gunners have made an impressive start to their European campaign, while things are looking up for them in the league too. Their point at Paris Saint-Germain may have been undeserved, but it was also incredibly important. They backed that up with a win over Basel, a routine victory which put them on course for the next round. Taking maximum points from two games against minnows Ludogorets would put them on to 10 points in total, which is normally enough to qualify. The aim then has to be finishing top.
If the Gunners are to finally top a Champions League group, they need to win these two games. With PSG looking vulnerable, they have a great chance of finishing first. Arsenal need to record another easy victory over the weakest side in the group first, then aim for top spot after. Arsene Wenger has his side scoring quite a few goals, and he has his forwards pressing up high looking for chances. That should help them to an easy win at the Emirates on Wednesday. The hosts on the -2 handicap is our main tip, which is 11/10 with Betfair.
Barcelona v Manchester City (19:45) – Barcelona win and BTTS (7/4 with Bet365)
The biggest game of the week sees Pep Guardiola take Manchester City across to Barcelona. The former Barca boss lost here when he returned with Bayern Munich, but will his new side fare better? A few weeks ago you’d have assumed so, when they were winning easy game in sight. A few poor results makes everything a little less clear, and there’s less confidence about City heading in to this one. After seeing how they defended away to Celtic last time, you have to be worried about their defence going into this match.
Barcelona have a few defensive worries of their own, having let in four against Celta Vigo before the international break. Both of these sides like to press high, but they’ve struggled against teams who use that tactic on them. We’re banking on that leading to a very high scoring encounter between these two sides. Both attacks should get plenty of chances, and we aren’t expecting to see any clean sheets. A home win is still our tip, seeing as City are still very much a work in progress. However, we are backing them to score. Barca and both teams to score is our tip, at 7/4 with Bet365.