We take a look at 3 of Wednesday’s Champions League fixtures and suggest a bet in each.
BENFICA v BAYERN MUNICH
This Group E clash sees 2nd place Benfica host leaders, Bayern Munich with Benfica sitting on 4 points and Bayern Munich on 6 points after back-to-back opening victories.
Benfica had come through the qualification stages to make the Tournament and their two group matches have been a goalless draw at Dynamo Kiev and a 3-0 home win over Barcelona, a result which could have been backed at just over 2/1.
Bayern Munich have had no problems winning their opening two games, beating Dynamo Kiev 5-0 at home and Barcelona 3-0 on the road.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Benfica 6/1
Draw 17/4
Bayern Munich 4/10
Suggested Bet: Handicap, Benfica (+1), the Draw at 59/20
We are getting just under 3/1 that Bayern Munich win this game by exactly 1 goal. They are worthy favourites and have been playing some great football, but Benfica will know that a draw would be a great result for them in this fixture and I expect they are going to put up a big defence effort and will push the Germans a little bit harder than the bookmakers think.
MANCHESTER UNITED v ATALANTA
Manchester United are 3rd in the group on 3 points from their 2 matches and they welcome Atalanta who currently sit top of the group on 4 points from 2 games. United’s confidence took a hammering this past weekend when they lost 4-2 away at Leicester in the League and in their opening Champions League matches they beat Villarreal 2-1 at home and lost to Young Boys 2-1 on the road, a game where they started 4/10 favourites.
Atalanta by contrast are coming into the week on the back of a 4-1 win over Empoli in the League and although they made heavy weather of it, they beat Young Boys 1-0 at home last time out and drew 2-2 with Villarreal in their opening game.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Manchester United 15/20
Draw 63/20
Atalanta 67/20
Suggested Bet: Handicap, Atalanta (+1) at 21/20
For this bet to arrive we need Atalanta to avoid defeat and something that I think they have an excellent chance of doing against a Manchester United side that is taking criticism from all angles and appears to have totally lost their way.
CHELSEA v MALMO
This is a crucial clash in Group H with Chelsea who currently sit 2nd, 3 points behind Juventus after two games, Malmo are bottom of the log have yet to open their account.
Chelsea lost 1-0 at Juventus in the last round and then previously bagged the 3 points at home to Zenit also by a 1-0 margin.
Malmo had to get into this Champions League group stages the hard way coming through multiple qualification matches, but they have battled in both fixtures, losing 3-0 at home to Juventus and 4-0 on the road to Zenit.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Chelsea 1/10
Draw 37/4
Malmo 30/1
Suggested Bet: Over 3.5 goals at 1/1
Chelsea are massive favourites for this game and that always makes it tough to bet on the 90 minute result. Fortunately we have plenty of other markets to get involved in and I expect a comfortable Chelsea victory with plenty of goals for the home team.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
