Europa League Free Bets
2010/11 Europa League group betting preview
Manchester City might have a huge squad, although Roberto Mancini would have preferred that his team avoided Juventus at the group stage of the Europa League, with the Old Lady of Turin likely to push the Citizens close for top spot in Group A.
There should be two fascinating contests between the pair who could ultimately go on to contest the final in May, although the bookies make City the slight favourites (10/11 Bet Fred) to top the section compared to the 7/4 on offer with Coral that Juve are victorious. Salzburg are a massive 20/1 to finish above both teams, with bet365 going 25/1 about Lech.
Meanwhile, Liverpool are also favourites to win their Europa League group, with firms going a shade of odds-on (10/11 William Hill) that the Reds have the beating of Napoli, FC Utrecht and Steaua Bucharest. It’s the Italian team who are expected to push Roy Hodgson’s team the closest and they are on offer at 7/2 with Sky Bet, with Utrecht at 12/1 (Stan James) to win Group K and Steaua the outsider at 14/1 (Coral).
Holders Atletico Madrid face an almighty tussle with Bayer Leverkusen in Group B and bet365 make the holders 10/11 to finish too of the section, with Coral offering 7/4 about the German team. Group C also looks like being a two-team race and it will be interesting to see who gets the better of Lille (6/4 Ladbrokes) and Sporting Lisbon (7/4 Stan James).
When it comes to Group D, Villareal are very strong favourites at 8/13 (Coral) to get the better of the other teams in the section, with Club Brugge (6/1 bet365), PAOK Salonika (7/1 Stan James) and Dinamo Zagreb (11/1 Stan James) all expected to battle it out for second place. However, Group E has a wide-open look about it and the bookies are struggling to split Dynamo Kiev (5/4 Ladbrokes) and AZ Alkmaar (15/8 Coral) in the group betting. BATE Borisov (7/1 Ladbrokes) can’t be written off either.
It’s all about CSKA Moscow (evens Sky Bet) and Palermo (2/1 Coral) as far as Group F is concerned and the Russian team may have been underrated by the layers. CSKA were quarter finalists in the Champions League last term and pushed eventual champions Inter close over two legs. It’s unlikely that Sparta Prague (8/1 bet365) and Lausanne (20/1 bet365) will hold a candle to the leading pair in the betting.
Stan James might be taking a chance with their 10/11 quote about Zenit St Petersburg winning Group G, with Anderlecht (7/2 Stan James) and AEK Athens (9/2 Coral) likely to make it a three-way battle to get into the last 32 of the competition. Hadjuk Split (11/1 Sky Bet) will hope to sneak in on the blind side.
VfB Stuttgart are slight favourites (5/4 Stan James) to win Group H, although Young Boys (10/1 Sky Bet) could be a good bet considering the difficulties encountered by Tottenham on that plastic pitch in Berne. They will fancy their chances of getting the better of Getafe (6/4 Sky Bet) and Odense (11/1 Stan James).
