Paul Higham has our Thursday preview as Man Utd and Arsenal are both at home looking for Europa League progression.
Recommended bets
1pt Wolves to beat Espanyol at 6/4
1pt Man Utd to win & both teams to score at 3/1
For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record
Espanyol v Wolves (0-4)
- 5.55pm BT Sport 1
Wolves have a 4-0 lead and Tottenham to play on Sunday and although Nuno Espirito Santo is remaining cautious he will surely make changes for the trip to Barcelona – safe in the knowledge that only twice in 221 attempts have a team gone through after trailing 4-0 from the first leg in this competition.
It’s a tricky old situation mentally when sitting on such a big lead, but Abelardo Fernandez has vowed that his Espanyol side will “be brave and daring” in their quest to achieve the “almost impossible” and come back from the dead.
Espanyol lost to relegation rivals Valladolid at the weekend and are five points off safety at the bottom of LaLiga, so this could well be their last chance for any kind of joy this season – expect them to go full throttle from the off.
That sense of adventure could play into Wolves’ hands though, who are likely to still have a strong enough team out to beat these relegation candidates – there’s no reason why they can’t complete the job in style, with the threat of changes giving us a better price than we’d otherwise expect.
Best bet: Wolves to beat Espanyol at 6/4
Man Utd v Brugge (1-1)
- 8pm BT Sport 2
United are unbeaten in six and are on another upward curve under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after their decisive win over Watford, but they can’t be too confident facing a dangerous Brugge side who haven’t lost on the road since November.
Philippe Clement’s side were 2-0 up at Real Madrid remember, with Dennis Bonaventure scoring twice at the Bernabeu and then grabbing the goal against United last week – he’ll be tough to stop regardless of the result.
Bruno Fernandes will again be the best player on the park though, and he can run this game, which is in the balance after the first leg so needs to be taken seriously by Solskjaer, who should select near enough a full-strength side.
That and home advantage, despite just three wins in six at Old Trafford, will be enough for the Red Devils, but with their odds of winning still too prohibitive we’ll add the extra of an away goal to make it interesting.
Arsenal v Olympiacos (1-0)
- 8pm BT Sport 3
A great result in Greece for Arsenal in the first leg in another sign of improving times under Mikel Arteta, and they’ve now got a great chance of making the last 16 again as Olympiacos have lost nine of their last 10 away games in Europe.
The Gunners looked more like their old calamitous selves at the back against Everton, but that’s becoming more the exception than the rule these days as that was just the third time in 13 that they’ve conceded more than once in a game. They’ve had six clean sheets during that spell.
The Greeks did give Spurs a fright when going 2-0 up before a 4-2 defeat across north London, and there’s always a danger of Arsenal’s old bad habits creeping back in, but in this competition in particular they’ve been excellent.
Arsenal are unbeaten in 2020 and have lost just twice in 13 Europa League games – they’ll be going through here alright but I do fancy Olympiacos to grab a goal as they’ll have to come out and play at some point and with Arsenal’s forward line that could be earlier than they’d like.
Best bet: Arsenal to win & both teams to score at 9/4
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