Champions League Midweek Preview

Its a big week week ahead for the Champions League hopefuls as the second leg of the final qualifying round takes place. The British teams managed some good results in the first leg and all 4 will feel they can go through.

On the betting front the Liverpool and Arsenal ties look over and both will be expected to win at home on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Liverpool to win are best-priced 1/3 at Ladbrokes and probably not worth the risk, for better odds it might be worth backing them to win to nil, available at 8/11 with both PaddyPower and skybet. Arsenal are 2-0 up from the first leg and at 3/10 (Canbet) are shorter than Liverpool. I think there could be a few goals in this and Sparta might be capable of sneaking one, so you might want to consider over 2.5 goals at 23/25 with Ladbrokes.

The two ties involving Celtic and Rangers are both finely poised. Rangers travel to Belgrade and are sure of a hostile welcome against Red Star. The Serbians had their game cancelled at the weekend in order to prepare for this massive game, whilst Rangers fought out a 2-1 win at Kilmarnock to stay top of the SPL. There wasn’t much to chose between the teams first time around, and they are only separated by a last minute Nacho Novo strike. Whilst I don’t think the ‘Gers team will be intimidated by their hosts, I do think that Red Star might be able to step up a gear from their Ibrox showing. Rangers can afford to lose the game (by a single goal, as long as they score) and still progress, whereas Red Star simply must win in the 90. For that reason I’m tempted to go with the home win at 5/4 (Bet365, BetAndGame, BetFred, Canbet, totesport and vcbet). Alternatively and slightly more appealing is the 27/25 available at Ladbrokes for Red Star on the Asian Handicap with a split of 0,-0.5 (this means that if the game ends in a draw you will get half your stake back).

Celtic are in pole position going into Wednesday’s tie with Spartak Moscow at Celtic Park. They secured fantastic 1-1 draw on a dodgy plastic pitch in Russia . They look to be hitting a bit of form now and have hit the net on 12 occasions in their 3 last SPL matches, most recently hammering Hearts 5-0. Spartak, on the other hand, suffered a 3-1 away defeat to 10-man Rubin at the weekend. Celtic’s home form in the Champions League is second to none, whilst the Russians do not like to travel. Everything points to a home win here and there is still evens available on the Asian market (-0.5) with PaddyPower and Ladbrokes. A safer bet might just be for Celtic to qualify at 1/2 with Coral.

In the other ties, remember the golden rule; Never back a team that does not need to win! Taking that into account there aren’t too many others that catch the eye. Ajax should be backed to turn around their tie despite a tricky visit to Slavia Prague. They need to win there to avoid missing out on Champions League football for the second season in succession. Ajax have hit 12 goals in their first two league matches and seem to be firing on all cylinders since the shock defeat of the first leg. An Ajax win is 6/5 at BetFred and Totesport.

Others worth a closer look include Shakhtar Donetsk (4/6 Bet365) to take care of Red Bull Salzburg and Besiktas (8/11 Bet365) to see off FC Zurich. If you’re on the lookout for a few upsets you could do worse than considering FC Copenhagen to overturn their first leg deficit and depose of Benfica at 7/4 with Coral or take Dinamo Zagreb to upset Werder Bremen on the night, the away win is 15/8 with Bet365. Finally the 41/20 at PortlandBet on Fenerbahce to win in Belgium against Anderlecht looks a bit generous and will tempt a few.

Whatever you’re betting on good luck this week and don’t forget you can download my free Accumulator Comparison Calculator here to make sure you get the best odds for your midweek coupon.

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