Europa League Picks - 15 December 2011

Rob Alexander picks out some value from Thursday night's Europa League fixtures

After Fulham's surprise capitulation in the last moment against Odense last night my bet looks like a moment of genius. Fulham were unlucky, but as I predicted they were bound to give their fans at least a few nervous moments. I expected them to qualify and conceding an injury time goal was a bitter blow. Still, a two point + profit is not to be sniffed at.

Tonight sees three UK sides play their final match of the Group Stage, with all three sides still in a position to qualify for the next round.

Tottenham Hotspur can hardly be said to have taken the Europa League seriously this season, fielding weakened sides in all of their matches so far. The fact they remain in contention to qualify for the last 32 is testament to the strength in depth of Harry Redknapp's squad. Spurs can only qualify if they win, PAOK beat Rubin Kazan and the combined winning marging is five goals or more. They travel to Shamrock Rovers in Dublin and will need to prove their superiority early on to have any chance of making the next round.

Birmingham City have done remarkably well in Group H considering they are playing in The Championship this season. They need to beat Maribor at home and hope that Braga can defeat Club Brugge in Belgium to make the next round.

Celtic have arguably the toughest task of making the last 32 as they need to beat Serie A high flyers Udinese in Italy to qualify. A recent upturn in form from Celtic will see them confident in their own ability but they have one of the worst away records in European football of any side and are unlikely to improve it tonight against a dangerous Udinese team.

Thursday Pick

Birmingham City v NK Maribor

Birmingham City will be going all out for a win tonight against NK Maribor, a side they beat 2-1 in Slovakia earlier in the group stage and will be full of confident of gaining a similar, if not better, result.

I fancy Birmingham to win the match pretty comfortably and am backing them at odds against with a reasonable handicap. NK Maribor are no mugs as they showed when knocking Rangers out of the competition in the play-off round but have nothing to play for and should be relatively easy to break down for a decent Birmingham side.

Bet 2 points on Birmingham City -1.25 at 2.1 with Paddy Power