Europa League Picks - 28 September 2011

Rob Alexander finds some decent bets in the second match week of the Europa League group stage

The Europa League didn't start too impressively for UK based teams as none of them managed to pick up three points. Stoke City will be particularly disappointed not to have won their away match against Dynamo Kiev after coming so close, only to be denied a famous win by an injury time equaliser.

Tottenham Hotspur were lucky to escape with a  0-0 draw in Greece against PAOK and will no doubt be looking for a convincing win over Shamrock Rovers at White Hart Lane this week.

Birmingham City performed admirably in their 3-1 defeat at home to Braga and this week face a tough trip to NK Maribor of Slovenia, who defeated Rangers in the Europa League play-offs.

Celtic are just thankful to be in the competition after being reinstated at the expense of FC Sion, who fielded ineligible players in their convincing play-off win over Neil Lennon's side. Home form is key for Celtic in any European competition and they will need to be at their best to win against Udinese.

Fulham travel to Denmark to take on Odense BK in an important match in Group K after the London side failed to take all three points at home to FC Twente. The Cottagers will still be confident of qualifying for the next round if they can avoid defeat in Denmark.

Midweek Picks

Celtic v Udinese

Celtic traditionally perform well at home in Europe and have had some famous victories in the past, especially when they had the famous front three of Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson to rely on to cause any defence problems.

In recent years however, they have struggled against sides from superior leagues as the quality of their squad has diminished due to massive financial constraints.

The visit of Udinese sees a top Serie A side visit Celtic Park and somewhat surprisingly, the Bhoys are favourites to win the match.

I fancy Udinese to at least leave with a point and wouldn't be surprised to see them win the match.The Celtic fans will back their team all the way and it is an intimidating ground to play at on big European nights but I believe Udinese have the quality to handle whatever Celtic throw at them.

Bet 2 points on Udinese 0 at 2.35 with bet365.

Rubin Kazan v PAOK

Russia is a notoriously difficult country to travel to and not many sides have a good record there. Rubin Kazan will be confident of maintaining their place at the top of Group A with victory over Greek side PAOK.

Rubin started their campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Shamrock Rovers in Ireland and will be looking to make their home ground a fortress as they push for the next round of the Europa League.

At 41.0 with Coral and Ladbrokes to win the competition, Rubin Kazan are definite contenders for the "dark horses" tag in this season's Europa League.

PAOK will have been disappointed not to have taken all three points against Spurs and will not be looking forward to arguably the toughest away fixture in Group A.

I don't fancy PAOK's chances of taking anything from the game and will be backing Rubin Kazan with quite a big handicap. With players such as Obafemi Martins, Gokdeniz Karadeniz and Roman Eremenko in their side, Rubin Kazan have lots of goals in them for this match.

Bet 2 points on Rubin Kazan -1.5 at 2.6 with bet365.