The Champions League group stages return this week with some intriguing ties ahead for all four English sides.
Spurs let a 2-0 lead slip in the opening game to Olympiakos so have it all to do against Bayern Munich in this week’s standout tie, while Chelsea head to Lille looking to register their first Champions League point of the campaign.
Our football betting expert previews both games and picks out the best bets.
Tottenham v Bayern Munich – Tuesday, 8.00pm
Tottenham famously made it all the way through to the final last season despite only picking up one point from their opening three group stage games.
Defeat against Munich here could leave them staring down a similar barrel once again, though, with the likes of Olympiakos and Crvena zvezda in the group, this looks a much more straightforward task for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, even if they do suffer defeat tomorrow night.
One plus point for the Lilywhites is their record against German sides in the competition, having won their last four games against Bundesliga outfits, though all four have been against Borussia Dortmund. They are 9/4 to come out on top, while the Germans are 11/10.
However, on the other side, Bayern have failed to lose any of their last nine European away games, and have scored at least two goals in each one before drawing a blank at Liverpool last season.
Taking that stat into consideration, I fancy the Germans to come out on top here, and while it will be tough to keep Harry Kane and co quiet at the New White Hart Lane, take Bayern to win and both teams to score at 5/2.
Lille v Chelsea – Wednesday, 8.00pm
Both these sides will be looking to get their campaign up and running having suffered opening day defeats.
Frank Lampard’s charges lost 1-0 at home to Valencia, while the French hosts lost 3-0 at last season’s semi-finalists Ajax.
The form for both sides in Europe doesn’t exactly stand them in good stead for this one – Lille have not won at home in Europe in nine attempts, while Chelsea have only won once on French soil in this competition – and that was way back in 2004 (3-0 v PSG).
Despite that record, Chelsea are favourites in France at evens, with the hosts 5/2, and the draw also at 5/2.
This could be a clash of the centre forwards, with Lille’s Victor Osimhen scoring six of their eight league goals, while Tammy Abraham has netted seven Premier League goals in his breakthrough season at Stamford Bridge.
Both can keep up their purple patch in front of goal on Wednesday, with a double on both players to score anytime available at 11/2.
Lille have only kept two clean sheets all season, and Chelsea registered their first in the 2-0 Premier League win over Brighton at the weekend. Taking that into account, a double on both teams to score and over 2.5 goals at 11/10 looks worth taking.
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