The third round of matches in the Uefa Europa League take place on Thursday and we take a look at Lech Poznan vs Sunderland, Besiktas vs Crystal Palace and Bournemouth vs AC Milan
Lech Poznan vs Sunderland
Lech Poznan have had a disastrous start to the UEL campaign. A 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in London was followed by another 4-0 loss in Round 2, this time at home to Bayer Leverkusen. This is in contrast to their form in Poland where they have won 8 of their first 10 league games and sit second in the standings and at home they have won 5 and drawn 1, scoring 17 goals and conceding 3.
For Sunderland it’s the opposite ay around to their opponents here. They are really struggling in the EPL with just 1 win and 1 draw from their first 7 games and after a 2-0 loss at Bournemouth on Sunday they are now at the foot of the table. However in their first European campaign for more than 50 years they are 2 wins from 2. They edged out AZ Alkmaar 1-0 at the Stadium of Light with an Enzo Le Fee second half penalty in a Round 1 home fixture before a much changed side made hard work of overcoming Torreense in Portugal, recovering from a goal down to pinch it 2-1 with the winner arriving in injury time.
The Verdict
I think Sunderland, who have a number of injuries anyway, will field a way understrength team as they did at Torreense last week and represent no value at 7/10 with a crucial EPL home game against Leeds looming. Whether Poznan are good enough to take advantage of that remains to be seen but I see scope goals for both sides and then at least one more.
Bets: Both teams to score and over 2.5 total goals? Yes at 11/10 with Lucky Fish
Besiktas vs Crystal Palace
Besiktas came through 3 rounds of qualifying to reach the League Phase where they have been amongst the goals in a perfect start. They began with a 4-1 home win over troubled Marseille and followed up with a 3-2 win away to Hoffenheim. Besiktas have won 5 and lost 3 of their first 8 games in Turkey’s top flight and they have won all 4 of their home games, scoring 12 goals and conceding 3.
Palace put Lech Poznan away 4-0 in their first Europa League action. Last season’s Conference League winners were 3-0 up by half time and after the visitors had a man sent off on 87 minutes they added the fourth. They couldn’t follow up in Round 2 away to Lyon where they went down 3-2, trailing 2-0 at half time and the fightback came up short. After a 5-0 defeat away to rivals Brighton in the EPL at the weekend Palace are fourteenth with 7 points from as many games but there is talk that coach Pierre Sage is already under pressure.
The Verdict
Could be a tough night for Palace although if they are on their game they are capable. I take the view there are goals in this Besiktas side though and I’m with 2-3 in their multi goal market.
Bets: Home team multi goals 2-3 at 21/20 with Lucky Fish
Bournemouth vs AC Milan
After 2 rounds of UEL matches 10 sides had the maximum 6 points against their name and that includes Bournemouth. They began with a 2-1 win away to Real Sociedad thanks to early goals from Kluivert and Rayan and they had way to much for Sturm Graz in a Round 2 home fixture which they won 3-0 with Rayan on target again. I the EPL Bournemouth had to wait until Round 7 for their first win, 2-0 at home to Sunderland last weekend but they also picked up 3 draws and can be found in fifteenth position.
AC Milan came unstuck at home to Benfica in Round 1, going down 2-0. They put themselves on the board next time out with a more than comfortable 4-0 win at RB Salzburg which included a hat trick for Cisse. In Serie A Milan are unbeaten with 4 wins and 3 draws are they are in fourth spot, 4 points behind Inter and Lazio who set the pace.
The Verdict
With an EPL win under their belt Bournemouth will go full throttle at this but you have to resect the visitors unbeaten record in Serie A. I still see goals though and Evanilson is as likely as anyone to pop up for Bournemouth
Bets: Anytime goalscorer Evanilson at 2/1 with Sportingbet
Note, prices are subject to change