It’s the night of the week again on which Arsene Wenger feels out of his comfort zone because Arsenal are playing in the Europa League. The manager has only ever known Champions League football during his time at the club so it must be a culture shock to be working on a Thursday. Wenger is slumming it this season but Jose Mourinho showed last season that winning the Europa League has some benefits. Manchester United only qualified for the Champions League by winning the competition.
Arsenal have won their group so job done so far but results have dipped once they qualified for the last 32. They play BATE Borisov at home tonight which for them is a dead rubber but the visitors can still finish second and progress to the knockout stages. Borisov are bottom of the group but a win against Arsenal would suffice as long as Cologne and Red Star Belgrade draw the other match in the group. Both teams have scored in BATE’s last three away matches so that is the bet at 4/6 with William Hill.
Everton’s Europa League campaign has been a microcosm of their season to date. Sam Allardyce has produced a sick note and will not be travelling to Cyprus for the meaningless match against Apollon Limassol. It appears that Everton won’t be playing the first 11 and in defence they could be particularly inexperienced and hence vulnerable. It would be fitting if Everton lost this match but that is a feasible outcome so APOLLON must be backed at 21/20 with Ladbrokes.
Clonmel stages an interesting hurdle race at 1.30 pm which could be a good opportunity for Coquin Mans. The horse has to concede weight today but did just that in a similar race in Ireland in August. He won races in France before joining Willie Mullins and has run well at a higher level. Today’s race represents a drop in class so COQUIN MANS is the standout racing bet of the day at 8/15 with Betfair.
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