We take a look at two of the Europa League Round of 16 first leg encounters taking place on Thursday night.
Tottenham Hotspur are the ruling favourites at 5.00 ahead of Lazio, Athletic Bilbao and Manchester United all trading at 7.00. You can get 11.00 and better the balance.
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REAL SOCIEDAD v MANCHESTER UNITED
Real Sociedad defeated Midtjylland 7-2 on aggregate to book their spot in the Round of 16. They haven’t been in the greatest of form domestically and were hammered 4-0 away to Barcelona on the weekend and prior to that went down 1-0 to Real Madrid at home in their Domestic cup.
Manchester United opened up the competition with 3 successive draws before reeling off 5 victories on the trot. They have been very inconsistent of late, losing 3, winning 2 and drawing 1 of their last 6 matches across all competitions. On the weekend they were involved in FA Cup action where they lost 2-1 at home to Fulham.
Head-to-Head
These sides met in the Europa League in 2022/23 season where the away team won 1-0 on each occasion.
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Real Sociedad 2.10
Draw 3.38
Manchester United 3.70
Verdict
Manchester United are really struggling at the moment, but I have the feeling that they had their eye on this game when they went out to Fulham on the weekend and I think they can come away with a draw.
BET: The draw at 3.38
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AS ROMA v ATHLETIC BILBAO
Roma overcame fellow-European giants, Porto 4-3 on aggregate to book their spot in the Round of 16. They drew 1-1 at Porto in the first leg before coming back to win the home leg 3-2. Roma are on good form at the moment and have won 5 of their last 6 matches across all competitions. On the weekend they were too strong for Como at home winning 2-1.
Athletic Bilbao beat Plzen 3-1 at home in their last Europa League match and they were away to Atlético Madrid on the weekend in the League where they lost 1-0. That broke a run of 6 unbeaten games across all competitions.
Head-to-Head
These sides met in the league section of the tournament and played to a 1-1 draw at Roma.
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AS Roma 2.30
Draw 3.30
Athletic Bilbao 3.25
Verdict
Bookmakers are expecting a tight, low scoring game and over 2.5 goals is trading at 2.15. I am going to go for a Roma 1-0 victory here and the best way to do that is in the Result and Totals market where Roma and under 1.5 goals is trading at 8.00.
BET: Result and Totals, Roma and under 1.5 goals at 8.00.
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Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
