It’s 5 winners from 7 Champions League Tips so far this season for Andy Schooler; check out his exclusive kwiff preview ahead of Matchday 3.
Champions League Tips: Matchday 3 Preview
Marseille put a miserable Champions League record to one side on matchday two to crush Ajax 4-0 and, three weeks later, they arrive at this match having won five in a row in all competitions. With Mason Greenwood in fine form – he scored four at the weekend and is 2.62 to net in this one – the Frenchmen have banged in 15 goals across those five matches and they look too big to me here at 2.8.
Champions League Tips: Sporting v Marseille
A glance at the Portuguese league table shows Sporting in a familiar position of second but look more carefully at their results and you find they’ve struggled in the big games. They’ve already lost to title rivals Benfica and Porto this season, as well as Napoli in this competition. On Sunday, they were held at home to Braga, the challengers to the Big Three in Portugal. Given Marseille’s form, they look worth siding with here.
Champions League Tips: Athletic v Qarabag
Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, PSG, Inter Milan, Arsenal and… Qarabag. Those are the only sides to have taken six points from a possible six so far in this season’s Champions League and maybe it’s time to start giving the Azerbaijani champions a bit more respect. They surged from 2-0 down to win 3-2 away to Benfica on matchday one, while Copenhagen were beaten on home soil last time out. OK, the level of opposition supposedly rises here but this looks a great time to be facing Athletic Club.
The Spaniards have won just one of their last eight, scoring only four goals across those matches. In the Champions League, they’ve already lost 2-0 at home to Arsenal and 4-1 in Dortmund. I’m sure players, management and fans will look at this game as the perfect chance to sort that form out but going off at 1.28 also brings pressure and you wonder what the consequences would be for boss Ernesto Valverde were they to slip up here. Certainly, they’d be in something of a hole in this competition.
Qarabag are a tempting 2.7 in the double-chance market but I think the better bet is to back then on the +1.5 handicap line. Here, they can afford to lose by one goal and you will still get paid out. Qarabag have scored in 14 of their 15 matches this season and if they do so again here, Athletic will need three.
Champions League Tips: Chelsea v Ajax
Chelsea and a German ref helped us profit from cards on matchday two of this competition and I’m happy to rinse and repeat here. This time the German in charge is Felix Zwayer, a man renowned for his card production. Zwayer took charge of 11 UEFA club matches last season and showed at least five cards in 10 of them. That run took his long-term numbers for over 4.5 cards to 44 of 57 – a 77% strike rate.
As for the teams, Chelsea collected the most cards in last season’s Premier League, while only one side currently has more in this season’s competition. The same can be said of Ajax in their domestic league – only AZ have received more cards than the Amsterdam side so far in the Eredivisie. That all adds to a potential card fest and over 4.5 cards looks a strong play at 1.76.
Champions League Tips: Matchday 3
Marseille to beat Sporting @ 2.8 with kwiff
Qarabag (+1.5) to beat Athletic Bilbao @ 1.8 with kwiff
Over 4.5 cards in Chelsea v Ajax @ 1.76 with kwiff
By Andy Schooler
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