One of our new writers Ross Casey (@RossCasey24) found 7/2 and 11/8 winners for us last night. Here's his favourite fancies from Thursday's early kick-offs.
Dynamo Kiev v AEK Athens | Thursday 22nd February 2018, 18:00 | BT Sport
Alyaksandr Khatskevich’s Dynamo Kiev side should come away with the victory today in the Ukraine in my opinion. They are out of action domestically, so all their focus is on this fixture and after securing the all important away goal in Greece, last week they have to be favourites here.
Dynamo Kiev don't sit back at home – they have scored in all but two of their home fixtures – and they’ll know that goals are likely to be their only route to the next round, as they’re none too clever at the back. Kiev have also conceded in all but five of their games on home soil!
Dynamo Kiev are actually unbeaten in each of their 15 home matches this season, picking up 12 wins in that sequence. As I have noted, Kiev also struggle to keep teams out, and with both teams scoring in 86% of Dynamo’s Europa League fixture this season, many will fancy Kiev to win and BTTS, but I will play it slightly more conservatively with a straight up Kiev win at 93/100 with Marathonbet.
Atletico Madrid v FC Copenhagen | Thursday 15th February 2018, 18:00 | BT Sport
The Danish side had an excellent start last week, taking the lead in Coopenhagen, before crumbling to a 4-1 defeat, conceding four away goals and all but ending their hopes of qualifying in this tie.
That leads us to a difficult task in terms of finding a betting angle as Diego Simeone is likely to make changes and Copenhagen arrive in Madrid without much hope.
I think the way to go is Atletico Madrid to win to nil with bet365 at 4/5. At Wanda Metropolitano, where Simeone’s men have kept a clean sheet 67% of the time domestically, the visitors could again find life tough going forward.
They are amidst a terrible run of results, losing seven of their last 11 and struggled to impose themselves in an attacking sense in the group stages away from home against far worse teams than Atletico.
Copenhagen managed just two goals in their away games against Lokomotiv Moscow, Zkin and FC Sheriff. Domestically too, they have only scored 11 in 10 on the road, so against the well known Atletico backline, I can't see them netting.
Diego Simeone's side have kept 11 clean shetts at home this season, including their last three in a row. I don't expect the manager to allow standards to slip, so go with a win to nil.
Best Bets
Dynamo Kiev v AEK Athens – Dynamo Kiev To Win (93/100 Marathonbet)
Atletico Madrid v FC Copenhagen – Atletico Madrid To Win To Nil (4/5 bet365)
