The first round of Uefa Champions League matches conclude on Thursday night and our focus is on the games between Atalanta and Arsenal and Atletico Madrid v RB Leipzig
Barcelona are in action at Monaco on Thursday and Bayer Leverkusen head to Feyenoord on a 6 match coupon.
Atalanta 3/1 Draw 11/4 Arsenal 17/20
Atalanta contested the Europa League last season and they won it, turning over some top sides in the knockout rounds including Sporting, Liverpool, Marseille and then Bayer Leverkusen in the final. That put them in last months Super Cup where they went down 2-0 to Real Madrid.
In Serie A after 4 rounds of matches Atalanta are in mid table with 2 wins and 2 defeats against their name. They won 4-0 at Lecce and most recently 3-2 at home to Fiorentina but defeats came away from home at Torino (2-1) and Inter (4-0).
Last season the Gunners made it to the quarter finals of the UCL where they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich. Arsenal have won 3 and drawn 1 of their first 4 EPL matches and are in second place, 2 points behind Manchester City who they visit at the weekend. They have kept clean sheets in all 3 of those wins, most recently 1-0 away to Spurs and their only dropped points came in a draw at home to Brighton, a game they played the majority of with 10 men.
The Verdict
Arsenal have picked up some knocks to key players early in the season and their team news will be worth monitoring for what could a tough test if Atalanta are on a good day.
With Man City away coming up on Sunday I think we might see a change or two in the Arsenal line up. Raheem Sterling is a favourite of Arteta and he came off the bench in the win at Spurs. I wouldn't be surprised to see him start here and hopefully he can reward the faith the coach has in him with a goal.
Bets: Anytime goalscorer Raheem Sterling at 2.95/1 with BoyleSports
Atletico Madrid 0.77/1 Draw 28/10 RB Leipzig 33/10
Last season Atletico came through the group stage unbeaten with 4 wins and 2 draws. They edged past Inter in the Round of 16 but lost a humdinger of a quarter final to Dortmund 5-4 on aggregate. After 5 rounds of matches in La Liga Atletico are unbeaten with 3 wins and 2 draws, 4 points off the pace being set by Barcelona. They have kept 4 clean sheets in those 5 games and most recently they were 3-0 winners at home to Valencia.
In the UCL last season RB Leipzig came through the group stage as distant runners up to Manchester City and they made Real Madrid work hard in the Ro16 before bowing out 2-1 on aggregate.
Leipzig have won 2 and drawn 1 of their first 3 Bundesliga matches. Their stand out result so far was a 3-2 win away to Leverkusen but last weekend they had to settle for a 0-0 draw at home to Union Berlin.
The Verdict
This looks a decent match up and I'm thinking Atletico might have too much firepower for the German side. I'm with the hosts to score in both halves.
Bets: Home team score in both halves? (yes) at 16/10 with BoyleSports
Note, prices quoted are subject to change
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