The Uefa Europa League gets underway on Wednesday and we take a look at selected matches including AC Milan vs Benfica and Sunderland vs AZ Alkmaar
We have 9 fixtures taking place on Wednesday and another 9 on Thursday which we will deal with in a separate preview. On with Wednesday’s picks.
AC Milan vs Benfica
Ruben Amorim and his AC Milan side are unbeaten in Serie A with wins at Torino (2-1) and at home to Venezia (2-0) and back to back draws away from home at Juve (1-1) and Lazio (2-2). That puts them in sixth place, 4 points behind Inter and Roma who set the early pace.
This season’s Europa League outright betting is wide open and AC Milan are one of the teams sharing favourites tag to lift the trophy at odds of 8/1.
Marco Silva replaced Jose Mourinho as Benfica coach for this season and they had to come through 3 rounds of qualifying which they successfully navigated with aggregate wins over St. Gallen (6-2), Hearts (7-2) and Aarhus (6-2). They are unbeaten in Portugal’s top division with 5 wins and 1 draw scoring 21 goals and conceding just 4 and that puts them in second spot, 2 points behind Porto who have a 100% record.
Benfica can be backed at around 12/1 to win this competition this season.
The Verdict:
I’m thinking Benfica will give a good account of themselves here. They have been few scoring and although the strength of their domestic league has to be taken into account I’m going with the visitors to find the net at least twice.
Bet: Benfica Total Goals over 1.5 at 16/10 with Sportingbet
Sunderland vs AZ Alkmaar
It’s 53 years since Sunderland last played in European competition so this is viewed as a huge occasion by the club and it’s supports. Sunderland have had a mixed start to the EPL season, their only win in 4 league matches came at home to Fulham (1-0) and last weekend they missed a penalty in a 2-0 home defeat to Arsenal.
In the outright betting to win the Europa League this season Sunderland are trading at around 16/1.
AZ are going really well in the Dutch top flight, unbeaten with 5 wins and 1 draw and they are second to PSV on goal difference. They have scored 17 goals in those 6 league games whilst conceding 6 and their only dropped points came last weekend when they were held to 1-1 draw by Willem in home fixture.
AZ can currently be backed at around 33/1 to win this tournament.
The Verdict
This should be very watchable and I’m with Sunderland to mark their return to European football by winning a game of 3 goals or more in total.
Bets: Match result and total goals, Sunderland and over 2,5 at 27/20 with Sportingbet
Note, prices are subject to change