Wednesday’s Champions League Preview
Before the dust can settle on an extraordinary night of Champions League action, another one comes around with another batch of intriguing fixtures in the world’s greatest club competition. In the pick of the ties, Chelsea travel to Valencia in a game that sees two former finalists pitted against each other. Juan Mata’s return to the Mestalla adds spice to a tasty looking fixture and despite an exodus of players such as David Villa, Joaquin and Mata in recent years, Valencia can still upset the apple cart that Andre Vilas Boas has got going nicely. Valencia need to win this game following the opening week draw with Genk and Vilas Boas, no rookie to managing in big European games, will probably be happy with a draw to take back to London so I think that is the most likely result tonight. Fernando Torres, with two goals in two games, looks an interesting price at 11/2 to score first as well.
Juan Mata returns to Valencia tonight in Chelsea colours
Arsenal take on Olympiakos at home this is an easy call for me. Arsenal’s home form in Europe is excellent (even Barcelona have failed to overcome them in their last two visits) and they should win this one comfortably. Of the other fixtures Barcelona travel to BATE Borisov after their opening 2-2 draw with AC Milan in need of win, knowing that any more slips could make for an uncomfortable trip to the San Siro later in the group. They are no strangers to this kind of game though and Messi and Co. should sail through given the form they’ve been in. It’s tough to find value tonight but I think Arsenal to win by three or more goals is a decent bet at 3/1. I recent times they’ve smashed five past the likes of Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk at home in Europe and if they can get off to a good start tonight then they may fill their boots. AC Milan are another team who can win comfortably tonight, at home to Viktoria Plzen, and a treble on them, Arsenal and Barca to win by three or more returns around 25/1. There are also intriguing games between Marseille and Borussia Dortmund and Porto taking on Zenit St Petersburg for those looking at accumulators with longer prices. First scorer prices don’t give much value tonight either making it difficult to bet with any confidence.
Predictions
- Valencia 1-1 Chelsea
- Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Genk
- Arsenal 3-0 Olympiakos
- Marseille 1-1 Borussia Dortmund
- Zenit St Petersburg 1-2 Porto
- Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 APOEL Nicosia
- BATE Borisov 0-3 Barcelona
- AC Milan 4-0 Viktoria Plzen
SYS Tip for the night: Arsenal, Barcelona and AC Milan to win by 3+ goals in a treble at 27/1
All odds provided by:
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