Round 6 of the Europa League Group Stage is upon us and there are plenty of teams looking to make moves towards qualification for the next round. Here is a look at some of the games on Thursday.
West Ham United VS Dinamo Zagreb
Expect David Moyes to use a blend of youth and experience in his lineup here as the Hammers have already won Group H thanks to a string of excellent performances in this competition. Moyes was already going to be without defensive pieces like Ben Johnson, Angelo Ogbonna, and Kurt Zouma through injury, so don’t be shocked to see already used youngsters like Harrison Ashby, Jamal Baptiste, and Sonny Perkins (among others) in the matchday squad.
Dinamo Zagreb knows that a result here will be enough for them to qualify as second in the group regardless of how Genk does against Rapid Wien. If the Croatians were to lose, however, Genk can sneak through with a win. I like this to end in a draw with West Ham having such a changed side at 33/10 with BetXchange.
Celtic VS Real Betis
Celtic have little more than confidence to play for in this one as their European fate has already been decided. The Glasgow side will be heading into the Europa Conference League for the knockout rounds as they cannot progress in this competition. Don’t be shocked to see Joe Hart rested in goal as he is one of a number of Celtic players to have logged too many minutes so far this season.
Celtic lost 4-3 to Real Betis on matchday one and they do not typically fare well against Spanish opposition in Europe. They have lost each of their last seven matches against teams from the country and I like Betis to continue that trend at 14/10 given that the Celtic team will be experimental.
Napoli VS Leicester City
Leicester knows that a win would send them through to the next round as winners while a draw would be enough to secure passage to the knockout stages. This task will be made much more difficult, however, by the fact that seven players will miss out on the trip due to Covid and other illnesses. Some of these options are in attack, with both Kelechi Iheanacho and Ayoze Perez known to be among those staying at home.
Napoli can also win the group with a victory here in a group where first and last are separated by just two points. The Italians have picked a bad time to have their first rough patch of the season, however, as they have picked up just four points from their last four league games after an unbeaten start. They still sit third in Serie A and they will be looking to the scoring touch of Victor Osimhen at the Maradona.
This is a tough one to call and though the result could go either way I like it to be a score draw with Leicester progressing with either Spartak Moscow or Legia Warsaw.
