UEFA Cup Oct 19

Regular readers will know I am not a huge fan of betting on the UEFA Cup, although we did well in the last round with two good price winners.

The bookies usually get a bit carried away with the ‘name’ clubs in this competition, possibly because the average bettor looks for names they know on the betting list and when they see ‘Wisla Krakow’ or ‘Heerenveen’ immediately pick their opponents because they have no idea which country these clubs come from, let alone whether they are any good.

The same may be true of Hapoel Tel Aviv who travel to Panathanaikos tonight. The Greeks have been a good side in recent seasons and have often qualified for the Champions League but they don’t look anywhere near as good this season. Crucially they have to play in an empty stadium tonight as the Greek fans ran riot at home in the previous round against Ukranian minnows Metalurgs Zaporizhya. With no home support the Greeks will find it all a bit harder and they face an Israeli side that is in decent form at the moment. The Israeli league has improved a lot in recent years and the bookies do not seem to have picked up on that improvement quite yet. This is hardly maximum bet material but a goal start does look exceedingly generous and my recommendation is have a two point bet on Hapoel (+1) at 1.85.

[Panathanaikos won 2-0]

Elsewhere I am not going to recommend a bet but Fenerbahce are probably under-rated by the bookies with a ½ goal start at St James’ Park. Newcastle are nothing special this season and the Turks look like a strong outfit. Blackburn may also struggle away in Poland at Wisla Krakow, although the Poles needed a 90th minute goal to stay in the competition in the last round against much weaker Greek opponents. Livorno look a good proposition against a Glasgow Rangers side that has plenty of injuries and are playing with a complete lack of confidence this season. Maccabi Haifa could also be interested – on the basis of Israeli sides being under-rated – against Auxerre tonight off a level handicap.