IN-FORM Mark O'Haire (@MarkOHaire) picks out his favourite fancies from Thursday's evening Europa League contests.
Athletic Bilbao v Sassuolo | Thursday 20:05
Athletic Bilbao
- Athletic Bilbao have W8-D2-L4 across all competitions since August – 8/14 games seeing Both Teams To Score bank.
- Athletic Bilbao have W6-D1-L1 at home this season, only losing to Barcelona.
- Athletic Bilbao have won and seen Both Teams To Score in 4/8 home games this season.
- Athletic Bilbao have kept 2/8 home clean sheets.
- Athletic Bilbao have W7-D2-L1 at home in the Europa League since July 2015 with 6/10 seeing Both Teams To Score land.
- Aritz Aduriz scored all five of Athletic’s goals in their 5-3 home win against Genk in their last Europa League encounter – Aduriz was last season’s top Europa League scorer with 10 goals.
Sassuolo
- Sassuolo have W4-D4-L9 in their last 17 games including W1-D3-L6 in their last 10.
- Sassuolo have scored in 19/21 games this season with Both Teams To Score winning in 13/21 including 10/12 recently.
- Sassuolo have W0-D3-L6 away in their last 9 – all 9 saw Both Teams To Score.
- Sassuolo have conceded 2+ goals in 6/8 away games and 8/12 anywhere.
Austria Vienna v Astra Giurgiu | Thursday 20:05
Austria Vienna
- Austria Vienna have scored in 24/26 games this season – 19/26 seeing Both Teams To Score land.
- Austria Vienna have scored 2+ goals in 8/9 games.
- Austria Vienna have seen Both Teams To Score land in 8/11 home games.
- Austria Vienna’s four Europa League games have featured 17 goals despite one ending 0-0.
- Austria Vienna have seen Both Teams To Score land in 4/5 Europa League games and kept only 1/9 Europa League clean sheet.
- Austria Vienna’s four Europa League games have produced an averaged expected goals rate of 2.97 with an average of 4 key goalscoring opportunities.
Astra Giurgiu
- Astra Giurgiu have scored in 8/9 games – 5/9 seeing Both Teams To Score land.
- Astra Giurgiu have scored in 5/6 Europa League games this season – 4/6 seeing Both Teams To Score land.
- Astra Giurgiu have scored in 12/15 away Europa League games including at West Ham, Salzburg, Celtic and Lyon – 9/15 seeing Both Teams To Score land.
- Astra Giurgiu’s four Europa League group games have averaged 3 key goalscoring opportunities in each.
Back Both Teams To Score (3/4 188BET)
Genk v Rapid Vienna | Thursday 20:05
Genk
- Genk have W6-D2-L2 in their last 10 – scoring 2+ in 7/10.
- Genk have scored in 22/25 games this season – scoring 2+ in 16/25.
- Genk have W11-D1-L1 at home this season – scoring 2+ in 9/13 at home.
- Genk have scored 2+ in each of their last 7 Europa League games – netting 10 goals in their four Europa League group games.
- Only 4 clubs have fired in more on-target shots in the Europa League this season – an average of 6.25 per-game.
Rapid Vienna
- Rapid Vienna have W2-D4-L5 in their last 11 games – keeping 1 clean sheet, against a lower league side in the domestic cup.
- Rapid Vienna have W3-D4-L3 away, keeping 2 clean sheets, both against lower league sides in the domestic cup.
- Rapid Vienna have W1-D1-L2 in the Europa League group-stage, conceding 2+ in 2/4 games and without keeping a clean sheet.
Best Bets
Athletic Bilbao v Sassuolo – Athletic Bilbao to win and Both Teams To Score (9/4 188BET)
Austria Vienna v Astra Giurgiu – Both Teams To Score (3/4 188BET)
Genk v Rapid Vienna – Genk to score Over 1.5 Goals (21/20 Coral)
Genk v Rapid Vienna – Genk to win and Over 1.5 Goals (9/5 BetStars)
