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Europa League Acca – 17th February

You may be wondering where the Round of 32 has gone in the Europa League this season, well the introduction of the Europa Conference League means that in both Thursday night’s competitions, we have a special Play Off round of games before the Round of 16.

The eight teams that topped their group in the Europa League (which includes West Ham United) have been seeded into that Round of 16, and the eight second placed teams, together with the 8 teams that dropped into this competition from the Champions League, now compete against each other in the playoffs.

A smaller field does mean better quality games and I think the Europa League has benefitted as a result, especially when you see the calibre of some of the games coming up this week with Zenit taking on Betis, Leipzig facing Sociedad, FC Porto facing Lazio, Rangers taking a tricky trip to Dortmund and of course, the huge game between Barcelona and Napoli.

It’s probably not that surprising to note that my four tips for this week’s acca in the Europa League comes from those games (though I was tempted to back Braga to beat Sheriff Tiraspol too).

However, the flip side of this means that there isn’t as much choice as in the Europa League this time last year and that does mean that the odds on this acca aren’t the highest. But a small win is better than a much larger odds bet that doesn’t come in.

Let’s take a closer look at this week’s Europa League games I’ve picked for my Thursday Night acca.

Europa League Acca Tip – 17th February

    • 5:45
    • Barcelona v Napoli Home Win
    • 5:45
    • Borussia Dortmund v Rangers Home Win
    • 8:00
    • FC Porto v Lazio Home Win
    • 8:00
    • Red Bull Leipzig v Real SociedadHome Win
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Bet Analysis: Thursday 17th February

Barcelona v Napoli – Home Win

Without the biggest game of the week as it pits two of Diego Maradona’s two former teams against each other. It is strange to see a game of this quality in the early stages of the knockout phase of European football’s second competition, but that is precisely what we have here. Barcelona’s struggles have been well-documented this season and Xavi has a huge task on to return the team to its former glories. Napoli are just a point off the top of Serie A, behind Inter Milan having been held by the top side at the weekend, their recent form has been pretty strong . You can make a decent case for Napoli to win the game, but I think Xavi will have his eyes on this trophy for Barcelona and I am backing them to land a narrow win here.

Borussia Dortmund v Rangers – Home Win

Borussia Dortmund have had some erratic results of late, including a 5-2 thrashing by Leverkusen that was a really surprising result as it was at home, while they also went out the German Cup to St Pauli. Rangers too have suffered, with a 3-0 defeat to Celtic very fresh in the memory. So both these teams come into this game very much in need of a boost but it looks to me as if Dortmund will be the team to get it. I just think the German side have far too much quality for the Scottish Champions and while Rangers have done well on the road this season, I think Dortmund are a level above other teams they have faced.

FC Porto v Lazio – Home Win

This is an intriguing match up between a Porto side that have been in good form domestically but who once again fell short in the Champions League, and a Lazio side that have underachieved in European competition over the last few years. The visitors have had a bit of a mixed bag of results of late, doing well in some games, but they have also had a few heavy defeats away to the likes of Napoli and Milan. FC Porto are more consistent but play in an easier domestic league and having lost Luis Diaz to Liverpool, they are without their main creative thrust. Even so, this will be a close one and I think the home side will just about land the win here.

Red Bull Leipzig v Real Sociedad – Home Win

There’s no doubt in my mind that Leipzig are not the same side that reached the Champions League semifinals not so long ago. A number of players have moved on, as has their coach, and the team lies well off the pace in the Bundesliga having lost 8 of their 22 league games this season. Sociedad were flying earlier on this season in La Liga but their form has dropped a bit since then and with one win in their last five, this looks like being a tough evening for them and I am just favouring the German side to come away with the win here.

Dean Wyatt

Author: Dean Wyatt

Dean Wyatt is the founder and editor here at Acca Nation. He’s been betting sports for over 20 years and is a profitable sports trader on the exchanges.

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