It’s another Thursday night of Europa League action, and we’ll be hoping to land another winning treble on the BTTS treble with three selections that offer returns of just over 17/4.
If our six chosen teams can all make the net ripple, we’ll be celebrating a return of £53 from a simple £10 treble. Frankly, we can’t think of a better way to ease our way into the weekend. Here are our selections.
Ostrersunds v Athletic Bilbao. 6PM
Swedish side Ostersunds have taken to European football superbly, knocking out both Galatasaray and PAOK en route to qualification before picking up handy wins in their opening two matches in Group J. While they can enter Thursday’s clash at the Jamtkraft Arena with confidence, they shouldn’t expect to have things all their own way against Athletic Bilbao.
Graham Potter has worked wonders with the Swedish club and will look to Saman Ghoddos, Jamie Hopcutt, and Johan Bertilsson to cause problems for the Spanish visitors here. Given their record in the attacking third this term, along with Bilbao’s less than brilliant defensive record, the hosts will expect to score.
The Liga visitors haven’t enjoyed a good start to the Europa League campaign but Jose angel Ziganda’s men still have plenty of time to turn thing around. A strikeforce spearheaded by the experienced Aritz Aduriz is more than capable of getting on the scoreboard too.
A score draw wouldn’t be a surprising result in this one. Whatever happens, we’re expecting both teams to score.
Zulte Waregem v Vitesse. 6PM
Group K rivals Zulte and Vitesse meet at Regenboogstadion in equal need of three points after each losing their opening two games. Let’s hope that need for a win will inspire an attacking display from both, not least because the respective defensive units are far from perfect.
The Belgian hosts have already shipped seven in this Europa League campaign, but they did at least manage to core in their only other home game. Perhaps more crucially, their last five competitive home games have all ended in BTTS winners. Francky Drury’s men should find the target at some stage.
Vitesse’s defence hasn’t been much better, conceding six in two games. However, they do boast some decent attacking talents, most notably in the form of Tim Matavz. They should create chances in this one, and we’re expecting them to get on the scoreboard too. We’re just not confident about their hopes of a clean sheet.
The away side’s last two games have ended in BTTS winners also, which is another reason to fancy goals here. Given that nothing short of a win will do, it should be an intense battle from start to finish.
Everton v Lyon. 8:05PM
Ronald Koeman’s Everton have endured a very tough start to 2017-18 and will be eager to provide their fans with something to cheer at Goodison Park on Thursday night. Given that they currently sit bottom of Group E, they might well need to.
The Toffees have struggled for goals, but certainly have the players to score goals in Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson and co. While the hosts are yet to find the winning combination, they should score at home against a side that hasn’t kept a clean sheet in seven.
Lyon will know all about Everton’s troubles, though, and can look to pile on even more misery. Nabil Fekir, Mariano Diaz and Memphis Depay should give Bruno Genesio plenty of options. In light of the home side’s bad form, the visitors should score too.
The French club have registered back-to-back 1-1 draws in this competition. A third on the spin on Thursday would suit us just fine.
