CL 18 & 19 Sept

Tuesday’s games

The first games of the Champions League group stages often sees low scoring games as sides adjust to playing against non-domestic rivals and also because teams like to make sure they don’t have awful goal differences early on. As a result I like to pick out a couple of games that look to be defensive affairs, which usually means going for the outsiders in the betting in the groups.

The two games that look most likely to be tight affairs to me are the Olympiakos vs Lazio and Porto against Liverpool games. Porto would probably be happy with a home draw while the Greeks would also settle for a single point from their first game. The recommendation is to have a one point bet on under 2.5 goals at 1.69 in the Olympiakos game and one point on under 2.5 goals at 1.58 in the Porto game and a one point double on the two.

[Olympiakos drew 1-1]
[Porto drew 1-1]

In terms of handicap bets, I am happy to just sit and watch at this stage as there are no stand out bets and there will be plenty more opportunities for a wager later in the year.

Wednesday’s games

Our strategy of betting under 2.5 goals worked well last night and there seems to be no good reason not to carry on in the same vein.

The two most obvious matches for a low score appear to be the Rangers vs Stuttgart game, where Rangers would almost certainly be happy to settle for one point, and Arsenal vs Seville, where the Spanish visitors will be trying to close the match down from the start. The Gunners usually get off to a slow start in the Champions League too and, while they top the Premiership, still show signs of not having fully settled at the Emirates Stadium. Have a one point bet on under 2.5 goals in the Rangers game at 1.71 and under 2.5 goals in the Arsenal at 1.96 plus a one point double on the too.

[Arsenal won 3-0]
[Rangers won 2-1]