Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano will contest the final of this season’s Europa Conference League in Leipzig on Wednesday night and we take a look at a number of options available to punters
Crystal Palace
Palace booked their place in the final with a 5-2 aggregate win over Shakhtar, winning 301 overseas and 2-1 in London.
In the quarter finals a 3-0 home win over Fiorentina in the first leg set things up and although that followed by a 2-1 defeat Palace went through with daylight. The first of the knockout rounds went almost to the wire. A 0-0 draw with AEK Larnaca in the first leg at Selhurst Park was followed by a 1-1 draw in regulation time in Cyprus but Palace found the winner in extra time.
In the League Phase Palace won 3, drew 1 and lost 2 of their matches to finish in tenth and a play off place. In that play off Palace came through with a 3-1 aggregate win over Zrinjski.
In the EPL Palace finished fifteenth with a record of 11 wins, 12 draws and 15 defeats. It was a strange season and some time ago coach Oliver Glasner announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. At one stage it looked as though he might not see the campaign through but things settled down and although Palace failed to win any of their last 7 league games, progress in this competition began to take top priority.
Rayo Vallecano
Rayo won both legs of their semi final clash with Strasbourg by a 1-0 scoreline with Alemao scoring both of those goals.
Their quarter final match up with AK Athens started well with a 3-0 home win but they were 3-0 down at one stage in the return before they pulled a goal back to lose 3-1 on the night but go through 4-3 on aggregate. In the first knockout round Rayo won 3-1 away at Samsunspor before losing their home leg 1-0.
Rayo came through the League Phase with a fair degree of comfort, winning 4, drawing 1 and losing 1 to qualify automatically in fifth spot.
In La Liga Rayo Vallecano finished in eighth spot, just outside of the European qualification places. They finished the season well, unbeaten in 7 (4 wins and 3 draws) but as is the case with Palace, if they are to play in the Europa League next season they need to win this final.
The Betting (Regulation Time):
Palace are 17/20 to win the match with the draw at 23/10 and Rayo can be backed at around 29/10
A game of 3 goals or more in total is priced at 11/10 and it’s 19/20 for both teams to score.
Matete is 17/4 to score the first goal and 33/20 to score any time
Among the Sportingbet price boosts a Palace win with both teams to score is now 15/4
To lift the trophy via any method Palace are 9/20 and Rayo’s price has been boosted to 37/20
The Verdict:
I think this could be tight but Palace just get my vote to edge it in regulation time
Bet: Winning margin, Palace by exactly 1 goal at 5/2 with Sportingbet
Note odds quoted are subject to change