THE Champions League continues on Wednesday night and European football fanatic Jonny O'Sullivan (@libero_the) picks out his favourite fancies in matches not involving Premier League interest.
Lokomotiv Moscow v Juventus | Wednesday 6th November 2019, 17:55 | BT Sport
Juventus travel to the capital of Russia in Wednesday's early kick-off in the hope of confirming their place in the Last 16 after Paulo Dybala inspired the Old Lady to all three points in the reverse meeting on matchday three.
Since this fixture occurred, Juventus have picked up seven points out of a possible nine and have barely convinced during these matches. A draw against struggling Lecce, a 96th-minute Cristiano Ronaldo penalty against Genoa grabbed all three points and an unconvincing win against rivals Torino have allowed Juve to stay on the summit of Serie A.
However unconvincing Juventus have been, they still manage to grind out results, which is a trait they have become synonymous with. This will inevitably set them off as the favourites to land another Scudetto, but they are not the thrilling outfit Maurizio Sarri created during his stay in Naples, yet.
You would still fully expect the experience of Juventus to head off to Russia and get all three points to all but guarantee their place in the next stage, but they will probably do this without scoring a bucketload of goals. Just one of their wins this season in the league has seen the Old Lady triumph by two or more goals and their performances go hand-in-hand with this.
The Bianconeri are also playing a side who have lost two of their last four matches in their domestic league. Even so, Lokomotiv did put up enough of a fight in the reverse fixture to suggest they are better than a hammering. This is the reasoning behind fancying Juventus to win and Under 3.5 Goals and is valued at 13/10 on Betway.
This outcome has been successful nine times already this season and I would be surprised if that figure isn’t enhanced again on Wednesday.
PSG v Club Brugge | Wednesday 6th November 2019, 20:00 | BT Sport
PSG are fresh off the back of perhaps the biggest upset of the European season so far, losing 2-1 at rock-bottom Dijon on Friday night.
This was such a huge shock because of the way PSG have been playing in the last few matches. Their previous four results were 4-0. 5-0. 4-1 and 4-0 wins and so a reaction from an angry and spirited Les Rouges et Blue outfit could give Club Brugge a hammering here.
PSG have not conceded a goal yet in the Champions League this season, comprehensively beating Real Madrid 3-0, slaughtering Brugge away 0-5 and overcoming a resilient Galatasaray 0-1. Logic would suggest that if PSG can overcome the Belgians by five in Brugge, beating them by three or more goals should be a walk in the park in Paris.
With an attack of Kylian Mbappe, Angel Di Maria, Edinson Cavani and Mauro Icardi, goals are easy for the Ligue 1 champions to come by. Five out of the last six home wins for PSG have seen a winning margin of three or more goals and that was before they were a wounded beast.
PSG were terrific in Belgium last time out and I would expect them to get back to the form which has resulted in many suggesting that they have an outside chance of lifting the biggest trophy in club football this season.
Best Bets
Lokomotiv Moscow v Juventus – Juventus to win and Under 3.5 Goals (Betway 13/10)
PSG v Club Brugge – PSG -2 handicap (Betfair 7/5)
