The second round of fixtures at the UEFA Europa League will be played today. Fancy the chances of your favorite team? Read more on our preview of three featured matches below.
First, we have Braga and İstanbul Başakşehir facing off at the Estádio Municipal de Braga in an important Group C contest. Then, we have Group E action as Everton takes on Apollon at Goodison Park. Finally, Lokomotiv Moscow hosts Zlín at Stadion Lokomotiv in a Group F engagement.
SC BRAGA vs. İSTANBUL BASAKSEHİR FK
3-Way: 1: SC Braga +143; X: +245 Draw; 2: İstanbul Basaksehir FK +229
Spread 0: SC Braga -139; İstanbul Basaksehir FK +136
Total +2.5: Over +124; Under -118
SC BRAGA
SC Braga would shoot for their fourth consecutive victory in all competitions as they take on their Turkish opponents at home. Their 2:1 conquest of Hoffenheim broke their losing spell as they went on to overwhelm Vitória SC and Tondela with similar 2:1 scorelines. Those victories have them jumping back up to fifth, their highest placing this term, in the Primeira Liga table with 12 points, just three off Marítimo for a UEFA qualifier.
João Carlos created four chances against CD Tondela. Ricardo Esgaio had an assist and won five aerial duels versus Vitória de Guimarães. He is also among the assist leaders at the Europa League with two.
İSTANBUL BAŞAKŞEHİR FK
İstanbul Başakşehir FK is on a downtrend, as after ending up scoreless against Ludogorets in a draw in their first UEFA Europa League group stage match, they went on to draw Trabzonspor, 2:2, and lose to Gençlerbirliği, 0:1, making their recent form in all competitions look like this: LDDWW. Their slide caused them to lose ground at the Süper Lig, inccuring only ten points in seven matches. They are tied with Maccabi Tel-Aviv with the highest possession in the league with 64%.
Eljero Elia created three chances and attempted five crosses against Ludogorets. Against Gençlerbirligi SK, Emre Belözoglu had 54 passes completed, 26 successful final third passes, and eight crosses, Edin Višca came up with five attempted crosses, and Júnior Caiçara won five tackles, cleared six, and attempted to cross five.
SC BRAGA vs. İSTANBUL BASAKSEHİR FK – Match Prediction
There can never be two other clubs going opposite paths right now than them. Sporting de Braga looks like a side that can easily win this match and top this group. The only thing more disappointing though is when the underdog you have not been paying attention to suddenly found the resolve to secure an upset win. Go for the home team win.
MY PICK: SC Braga (+143)
EVERTON FC vs. APOLLON LIMASSOL
3-Way: 1: Everton FC -286; X: +520 Draw; 2: Apollon Limassol +1175
Spread -1.5: Everton FC -115; Apollon Limassol +108
Total +3: Over +106; Under -104
EVERTON FC
Everton FC returned to their winning ways recently, overcoming Sunderland, 3:0, at the Carabao Cup before claiming three points at the English Premier League courtesy of Bournemouth, 2:1, over the weekend. These victories eased the sting somewhat of returning home from a 0:3 loss to Atalanta in their first Europa League group stage match this term, as well as the 0:4 beating they got from Manchester United the weekend before the last one while replacing the L’s on their form with W’s. Nevertheless, they are still at the bottom half of the EPL table with 7 points in six matches, the same as Brighton & Hove Albion, which is good for 14th. The club’s first encounter with Cypriot opponents, it has won its last four European home games.
Everton is backstopped by Jordan Pickford, the busiest goalkeeper last term at the EPL, as well as Leighton Baines and Morgan Schneiderlin. Baines has one Europa League goal to his name this season. Gylfi Sigurðsson is a good player who will provide goals and assists, and he has scored one in Europe as well. Although he has not scored so far, former Ajax captain Davy Klaassen provides leadership in a team that highly needs one. Sandro Ramírez, Cuco Martina, and Nikola Vlašić are three names whose expectations are placed high. As of yet, they have no goals among them in a combined 18 appearances in all competitions.
The Toffees are starting to miss the goalscoring of Romelu Lukaku, who had a tournament-best eight goals in 2014-15. Also sitting out tonight are James McCarthy, Michael Keane, Phil Jagielka, Seamus Coleman, and Ross Barkley, who are all injured.
APOLLON LIMASSOL
The form of Apollon Limassol is littered with D’s, as four of their last five contests finished in 1:1 draws, their only outlier result being a 4:2 conquering of Ermis, giving them five points with two games at hand at the Cypriot First Division. Currently, in the relegation half of the domestic table, they have a chance to make ground since only two points separate them and third place.
The situation is quite the same in Group E since Apollon FC’s 1:1 draw with Olympique Lyonnais have the both of them bunched up in the middle, and getting three points would give them a boost. Nevertheless, the last time they were in England, which was back in 1992, they lost 1:6, to Liverpool. Emilio Zelaya has two leagues for himself, a hat trick away from overtaking Matt Derbyshire of Omonia and Fabrício of Alki in the goalscoring leaderboard.
EVERTON FC vs. APOLLON LIMASSOL – Match Prediction
If based on form, O Fygas have the slightest of an edge. At the same time though, the trends point to a win by The Blues. Everton should dominate this game and win by at least two goals.
MY PICK: Everton FC to win -1.5 AH (-115)
FC LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW vs. FC FASTAV
3-Way: 1: Lokomotiv Moscow -256; X: +470 Draw; 2: FC Fastav Zlín +1200
Spread -1.5: Lokomotiv Moscow -103; FC Fastav Zlín +100
Total +2.5: Over -111; Under +108
FC LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW
Save for the 1:0 W off Rostov on Sunday, FC Lokomotiv Moscow is not in a good place right now. Case in point, they lost to Krylya Sovetov at extra time, 2:3, at the Russian Cup. Before that, it was a 0:1 setback against Amkar at the Russian Premier League. Despite that, they are still second in the table with 23 points, four less than Zenit Saint Petersburg’s.
FC Lokomotiv Moskva is looking for a better outcome as they try to avoid their third successive goalless UEFA draw. Looking back, they were once party to one of the highest scoring group stage games in league history after scoring three goals in a 3:5 loss to Anderlecht back on December 14, 2011. They are among the leaders in pass completion percentage in the tourney with 93%.
Vladislav Ignatyev had a clean sheet, as well as five tackles, won and four crosses attempted, against FC Copenhagen in his club’s last UEFA Europa League match.
FC FASTAV ZLIN
FC Fastav Zlín did not have the most rousing of starts in this year’s Europa League, settling for a draw against FC Sheriff and setting up this four-way tie in their group. Adding to their disappointment, they have not scored a European goal since June 2005.
Domestically, they are at eighth on the Czech First League table with ten points in eight matches. This month, they won against Teplice, 2:0, on September 9; lost to Plzeň, 1:2, on September 19, and drew with Slavia Praha, 1:1, on September 23.
LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW vs. FC FASTAV ZLIN- Match Prediction
It is hard to be both positive and optimistic when having to choose between two sides that are not in optimal form. At least with Lokomotiv Moskva, they have had a history where they could score (while also concedeing a lot). Whereas with Fastav Zlín, they have not found the back of the net for more than a decade now. Maybe this would be the time the trends would be bucked. Therefore I would go for the over.
MY PICK: Over 2.5 goals (-111)
