Planning on placing a bet on one (or more) of tonight’s Europa League matches? Of course you do! There is enough excitement to go around with teams like Arsenal, Valencia, Napoli and Chelsea. Before you place your bet, you might want to read this first! Good luck tonight!
Arsenal – Napoli
All eyes will be on the match between Arsenal and Napoli. This match really shows the strength of the Europa League today, since both of these teams make a great appearance as Champions League contenders as well. Napoli can fully focus on the Europa League now that Juventus is out of sight for the Champions League and the gap between Milan is large enough not to worry anymore about Champions League football next year. This is a real advantage compared to Arsenal that is only one point below their rival Tottenham, and has everything to win (and lose) in the Premier League. Then again, the last two games of Napoli ended in a tie. A sign that they lost interest in the national competition, or they are not in their best form. Who dares to say? Because that might decide your bet!
Benfica – Eintracht Frankfurt
Surprisingly enough can Eintracht Frankfurt match Atletico Madrid’s record of fifteen games not lost in a row against European Teams. It shows the form this team is in; taking 4th place in the Bundesliga and probably making their debut next year in the Champions League. To get this record, they first have to get rid of Benfica. Not the easiest of tasks. This club is on pole position in their national competition and has defeated Galatasaray and Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League after becoming third in the Champions League pool. This is gonna be a very interesting football fight between two teams with different styles.
Villareal – Valencia
At the moment there is a possibility that Villareal wins the Europa League, qualifying for the Champions League, and simultaneously degrade from La Liga. That is one weird scenario, but not that unlikely. Villareal currently holds the eighteenth position in La Liga and has only seven matches to get out of the red zone. Sunday awaits Real Valladolid, a game they have to win for preservation. Valencia knows the situation Villareal is in better than anyone and smells blood. Los Ches are currently sixth in the competition and are not dependent on the Europa League for Champions League football next year. The pressure will be on Villareal for this one.
Slavia Prague – Chelsea
Slavia Prague is probably the most surprising name of the eight quarter finalists. That is not how they see it themselves though. This team is shining with confidence, already winning the Nations Cup and being in the lead for the nations league and kicking Sevilla out of the tournament. Their opponent is the team of the topscorer of the Europa League. Olivier Giroud already got nine goals in an equal number of matches. The Europa League might be the only prize that can save the season for Chelsea and they will do everything to win this game. But they are not as favourite as they would like to think of themselves.
