Wolves v Braga: Old Gold backed to dispatch Portuguese opponents

WOLVES continue their Europa League journey at Molineux on Thursday night as Braga pitch up. WLB debutant Anthony Olsson (@Ant_olsson93) analyses the encounter.

Wolves v Braga | Thursday 19th September 2019, 20:00 | BT Sport

Wolves are back in European action on Thursday night as they host Braga in their first group-stage game of this year’s Europa League. The hosts arrive off the back of a thumping defeat at the hands of Chelsea, which saw the Old Gold concede five goals, so they’ll need to tighten up considerably if they are to get a positive result here.

Wolves find themselves in the bottom three in the Premier League with just three points to their name after five matches and there are a few people suggesting that they could be in for a tough season competing on two big fronts.

Luckily for the Old Gold, their manager is very familiar with Thursday night’s visitors. Nuno Espirito Santo is unbeaten in eight of his nine managerial meetings with Braga (W4-D4-L1) and if you add this to Wolves’ record against Portuguese opposition (W5-D0-LL1) then you start to become confident about the hosts’ chances despite recent league performances.

Braga are big outsiders at 5/1 (Bet365) and they have struggled in in the Europa League group-stages of late with a record of W3-D6-L1 and they only have one victory on English soil.

The visitors have struggled domestically in 2019/20 as well having picked up four points from five which puts them one place above the relegation zone. They did pick up an impressive victory away against Spartak Moscow in their previous Europa League qualifying match.

The betting angles

One angle I like in this match is in for Both Teams To Score (11/10 Sportingbet). The pair have struggled to keep clean sheets with Wolves managing just two in their last eight, whilst Braga have managed one in nine. Both sides have been able to find the back of the net with Wolves failing to score once in those eight and Braga three times in nine.

The duo have forwards in-form in the competition too. Wolves have Raul Jimenez who has six goals in the campaign and Braga have Ricardo Horta who has found the back of the net four times in the competition. Wolves have conceded an average of 13.60 shots per-game and Braga have managed an average of 15.60. Hopefully these trends continue on Thursday night.

It’s probably fair to say that Wolves have the upper hand in this match with the quality of players that they at their disposal. I do think that they could come under some pressure though despite Braga’s poor record on English soil. The Old Gold should be able to overcome the visitors eventually and I think with the quality that they have in attack they should be able to score a few goals.

Wolves to win and Over 2.5 Goals (33/20 Coral) is a bet that would have landed in the hosts’ last five wins in competitive matches.