@ZAPunter provides his betting tips for the Uefa Champions League clash between Slavia Prague and. Dortmund which takes place on Wednesday 2nd October
SLAVIA PRAGUE VS BORUSSIA DORTMUND, WEDNESDAY @ 18:55
Dortmund make the trip to Czech Republic having got their Champions League campaign underway with a goalless draw against Barcelona. They now face a Slavia Prague team who came very close to causing a huge upset away at Inter Milan. Both teams may feel that they deserved all 3 points in their first match, but will be confident going into Wednesday evening’s fixture. Slavia Prague only managed a 1-0 victory on the weekend and were lucky with Mlada Boleslav missing a penalty in the 97min, they were most likely focused on their Champions League game. Dortmund continue to fall behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga title race with another draw this weekend at home against Werder Bremen. Slavia Prague will see this match as an opportunity for another potential upset against a below par Dortmund, while BVB will see this as an opportunity to go top of the group before Barcelona and Inter Milan play later on.
SLAVIA PRAGUE:
Slavia manager Jindrich Trpisovsky has worked wonders with this team on a very tight budget compared to the other teams in the Champions League. Last season they reached the Europa League Quarter Finals and haven’t looked back since. They knocked out Romanian team CFR Cluj during qualification and the team is known to play with passion, even though the quality may not be there. Their performance against Inter Milan was unexpected to say the least, scoring first and kept the Italian giants out until the 92min. Their expected goal statistics for the game against Inter: xGf 1.09 and xGa 1.53, showing that they did enough to deserve the goal, but could have conceded more than 1 goal. The Slavia Prague fans are passionate and will create a great atmosphere on Wednesday, you would expect the players to deliver another gutsy performance. Slavia Prague has no injury concerns and should field the same 11 that faced Inter Milan.
DORTMUND:
After winning their first 4 competitive matches, manager Lucien Favre will be disappointed with where his side finds themselves at this stage. Dortmund has spent a lot of money over the last couple of transfer windows and their passionate fan base expected more from the team. They will always score goals, but continue to have problems at the back, conceding 2 goals in their last 2 Bundesliga matches and both ending in a stalemate. On the other hand, they were very impressive against Dortmund, outplaying the Catalan team, but club captain Reus missed a penalty and they were unable to get the 3 points. Their expected goals for the game is unbelievable against a club like Barcelona: xGf 3.33 and xGa 0.39, utter domination, the score could have easily been 3-0. Their problem may be that they have to many attacking options and Favre hasn’t settled on his best team, which has left fans frustrated. Dortmund will know the importance of this game and that 3 points are vital. Dortmund will be without their main striker Paco Alcacer and it’s expected that Mario Gotze will replace him
PROBABLE LINE-UPS:
Slavia Prague: 4-3-1-2
Kolar,
Coufal, Kudela, Hovorka, Boril,
Traore, Husbauer, Soucek,
Stanciu,
Masopust, Olayinka.
Dotmund: 4-2-3-1
Burki,
Piszczek, Akanji, Hummels, Hakimi,
Delaney, Witsel,
Sancho, Reus, Brandt,
Gotze.
PREDICTION:
I expect Dortmund to get the job done on Wednesday, they have the quality to put away Slavia Prague and top their group table. Compared to Inter, they have more attacking quality and technical players that will cause problems for a more physical and slow paced Slavia team. Expect Dortmund to have a lot of possession and Slavia to chase the ball around the pitch, which will eventually lead to fatigue and errors for the home team. Dortmund’s price has been on the drift since the Alcacer news broke and it even made me more interested to back BVB and make this a first Champions League BEST BET. Let’s back the Schwarzgelben to get the job done!
BETTING:
BEST BET: Dortmund Win – 1.97 @ BetOlimp
Champions League Record: 1-1 (+0.15 Units)
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change
@ZAPunter
