UEFA Cup 12 April

One of tonight’s matches is a no go zone for punters – Osasuna lead Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 from the first leg so it is likely this game will be played out with reserve squads and little interest from either side – but there are three games which are still competitive and that is always good for punting action.

The Spurs vs Seville game is a tricky one to call. With English clubs going so well in European competitions this week it would be a brave man who wrote off the north Londoners but with a 2-1 deficit from the first leg it is tough to be confident about Tottenham. The handicap looks about right to me on balance and I’m not inclined to have a wager.

Of more interest are AZ Alkmaar who played out an uncharacteristic 0-0 draw with Werder Bremen in the first leg. AZ are a good, well organised side who tend to score a lot of goals and the Dutch side look like a value bet with a goal start in Germany tonight. Bremen have not been scoring a lot of goals in the Bundesliga over the past few weeks and seven goals in the last seven matches tells a story of a team that is not quite clicking. The main problem is that Klose is badly out of form and the only reason Werder are so fancied tonight seems to be that they are second in the Bundesliga. Have a two point bet on the Dutch underdogs (+1) at 1.81.

AZ lost 4-1

Espanyol are interesting with a ¾ goal start at Benfica, given they go into this with a 3-2 lead. I was tempted to make this a pick but in high scoring contests the large handicap is less of an advantage and I expect this to be a goalfest. With Espanyol having two away goals in the bag the home side only needs to win 1-0 and if they take the lead then I can see the game opening up and there being too much randomness to make a wager worthwhile.