RB Leipzig v Manchester United
Tuesday December 8, 20:00,
Live on BT Sport
After a mediocre performance in that 2-1 loss to PSG, there was another poor showing in the first half against West Ham, where they could have easily have been at least 2-0 down at the break.
At half-time on came Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford and all of a sudden they were a totally different side. Fernandes created the first for Paul Pogba and Rashford rounded things off with a well-taken third. From a punters’s point of view, at least they’re predictable away from home in the league: I tipped them to concede first ahead of that game.
They’re less predictable in this competition. They beat PSG away but lost at home, they were awful in Turkey losing 2-1, yet comfortably beat Basaksehir 4-1 at home.
Of course, this match is about qualification to the Last 16 rather than just being a standalone match and avoiding defeat here will see United through, though topping the Group would also need PSG to not win at home to the Turks, highly unlikely.
But I don’t think the scenario needed to progress should make too much difference to the way they play. They’re certainly not good enough at the back to play for the 0-0 they need that would them just fine.
Six of United’s last seven have seen both teams score and crucially, three of those were in this very competition.
For Leipzig, it’s five out of the last seven for them where both teams have netted and to give you an idea of sort of games they’ve been playing lately, here are their last three results: 2-1 and 3-3 (Bundesliga) and a 4-3 win against Basakehir last week in this competition.
A goal means the other side has to go for broke and though it’s not the adventurous wager, our 1/2 really should come good.
PSG v Basaksehir
Tuesday December 8, 20:00,
Live on BT Sport
PSG were good value for their win at Old Trafford last week. They’re perhaps not quite the star-studded outfit of a few years ago but that might not be a bad thing and maybe Neymar is happier being the biggest name of all in the dressing room.
He certainly played like their main man in that win and seems to be playing far more for the team at the moment than those one-man shows he used to perform.
The maths here is simple. Win the match, win the Group. And I don’t think they’ll be taking too many chances; they’ll want to be winning this comfortably rather than sweating on a 1-0 win with 10 minutes on the clock to go.
So I think PSG could win this pretty comfortably.
Demba Ba’s side conceded three at Besiktas, four at Old Trafford, three at home against Denizlispor and four at home to Leipzig last week so can be on the wrong end of some proper drubbings.
Mind you, they’re normally good for a goal themselves. They’ve scored in each of their last eight, scoring 17 in the process. A PSG win with over 3.5 goals is 10/11.
Chelsea v Krasnodar
Tuesday, 20:00
Live on BT Sport 3
Tuesday night should provide a good opportunity for Tammy Abraham to remind Frank Lampard what he’s all about.
He was rested in midweek in Sevilla and in came Olivier Giroud, who scored four. Lampard couldn’t then leave Giroud out to play Leeds and the veteran Frenchman justified his selection by scoring the Blues’ first. Abraham must be scratching his head wondering what he did wrong, but the answer is ‘not that much’. He even looked pretty bright on Saturday night after coming on off the bench and almost scored.
Giroud certainly won’t be playing here after starting back-to-back matches at 34 and this is an excellent chance for Abraham to fill his boots. With Chelsea already having topped the group, the team can just go out and enjoy themselves and in that regard, they couldn’t have asked for better opponents than Krasnodar, who have conceded 10 in five games in Europe.
Including four at home to this lot.
Given Chelsea have scored seven in their last two games, they should be good for two or three here against a side who don’t quite look up to this level. It’s evens that Abraham gets a goal.
Source: Betfair Premier League
