The new look Uefa Champions League gets under way on Tuesday, the likes of Juventus, Bayern and Real Madrid are in action but our focus is on Young Boys v Aston Villa and AC Milan v Liverpool
The new format sees 36 teams in one league with each team playing 8 matches. The top 8 qualify for the knockout rounds and those from 9th to 24th will play off to see who else goes through with 25th and below eliminated. Fixtures were allocated based on a seeding system and with the help of a very clever computer program.
It all starts on Tuesday and we have some short price favourites such as Real Madrid (3/10 at home to Stuttgart) and Bayern Munich (0.13/1 at home to Zagreb). Elsewhere Juventus (8/10) are at home to PSV and Sporting (7/10) host Lille. That leaves us to focus on the games involving English clubs Aston Villa and Liverpool.
Young Boys 36/10 Draw 32/10 Aston Villa 13/20
Young Boys came through qualifying with a 4-2 aggregate win over Galatasaray. They were the underdogs for both legs but won 3-2 at home and then 1-0 away and they scored late winners in both matches. Last season Young Boys finished a distant third in their group behind Man City and Leipzig with 4 points and the failed to make progress in the Europa League.
Villa qualified thanks to a fourth place EPL finish last season and in the early stages of the current domestic season they have won 3 and lost just the 1. The defeat came at home to Arsenal, they have yet to keep a clean sheet but Watkins bagged his first goals of the season in a 3-2 home win over Everton last weekend and Duran has made a habit of coming off the bench and scoring. Last season Villa were in the Europa Conference League where they made it to the semi finals.
The Verdict
That was a terrific effort from Young Boys to knock out Gala but their most recent domestic form is decidedly average. I'm with Villa to win but with the home side contributing to the scoring.
Bets: Aston Villa to win and both teams to score? (yes) at 18/10 with Sportingbet
AC Milan 27/10 Draw 28/10 Liverpool 9/10
After 4 Serie matches Ac Milan are in mid table. They played out 2-2 draws at home to Torino and away at Lazio either side of a 2-1 defeat at Parma but last weekend they thrashed Venezia 4-0 in a home fixture. In the UCL last season AC Milan were drawn alongside Dortmund, PSG and Newcastle in the toughest of groups, they narrowly missed out on the knockout rounds after finishing third and they bowed out of the Europa League at the quarter final stage. .
The new Liverpool era under coach Slot started with 3 comfortable league wins without conceding, 2-0 victories at Ipswich and at home to Brentford followed by a 3-0 win away to Man United. It all went wrong last weekend though after a coupon busting 1-0 home defeat to a very well drilled Forest side. Liverpool contested the Europa League last season, they were heavily fancied but came unstuck against Atalanta in the quarter finals.
The Verdict
Liverpool were just too bad to be true against Forest at the weekend but that performance does have me wondering about where to go here and it will be interesting to see if Slot makes a few changes to his line up.
AC Milan's early league games have seen plenty of goal action, on gut feel though I'm thinking this could be lower on entertainment and I'm with at least one of these sides failing to score.
Bets: Both teams to score? (no) at 13/10 with Sportingbet
Note, prices quoted are subject to change
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