Austria Vienna vs Malmo FF
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Today’s secondary featured game is the UEFA Europa League game in Austria between Austria Vienna and Malmo FF of Sweden.
Austria Vienna are a goalscoring side, simply put. They’re decent enough defensively to win games in Austria without being too heavily damaged at the back but on the continent it tends to be a different story. This side seems largely incapable of keeping a clean sheet but they’ve got lots of firepower I respect that, especially in a must-win game such as this one. Powerful striker Linz is finally getting the service he needed thanks to the brilliance of ex-Arsenal youngster Barazite and the pace and skill of Junuzovic. Tomas Jun will never stop battling and there are other contributors such as Grunwald and Liendl but the afore-mentioned are the main boys who make Austria Vienna a good goalscoring side. It’s a must-win game for the hosts and it’s going to depend on these talented attackers as to whether they make it or not. Well, that and Metalist Kharkiv doing them a favour in the Netherlands against AZ Alkmaar!
Visitors Malmo have nothing to play for here and I think their lack of competitive match practice will show here. I anticipated that they might pick themselves up to surprise poor-travelling AZ Alkmaar in Sweden but away from home against a side that isn’t so widely respected, I don’t see Malmo having the same motivation. Unfortunately for Malmo, without motivation, they tend to be rather ordinary. They’ve conceded heavily in four out of their five games in this tournament thus far and have been -1 handicapped in three of them. Malmo don’t like to focus on defending because they’re not especially good at it although don’t be surprised if they score themselves here. However, there’s no motivation for them to do well here and they have little competitive match practice so I expect them to struggle in cold Austria tonight.
For me, the hosts beating the -1 Asian Handicap is well worth a flutter at 9/10. I’d be surprised to see the hosts not winning this game – partially because they have to and partially because they’re good at attacking – and they should be able to convert a mere win into a comfortable win against what should be a disinterested Malmo. Therefore, my call is for the home side to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 9/10.
Verdict: Austria Vienna to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 9/10.
Thursday’s Picks
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
FIFA World Club Cup:
Al Sadd vs Barcelona (9) -1.5 handicap
UEFA Europa League:
PAOK Salonika vs Rubin’ Kazan (7) 0-0
Shamrock Rovers vs Tottenham Hotspur (7) 1-2
Hannover 96 vs Vorskla Poltava (6) 1-0
FC Copenhagen vs Standard de Liege (4) 1-1
PSV Eindhoven vs Rapid Bucharest (7) 1-0
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Legia Warsaw (6) 2-1
AZ Alkmaar vs Metalist Kharkiv (5) 2-1
Austria Vienna vs Malmo FF (7) 2-0
Club Brugge vs Sporting Braga (5) 1-1
Birmingham City vs Maribor (6) 2-1
Udinese vs Celtic (6) 1-0
Atletico Madrid vs Stade Rennais (6) 2-1
Enjoy your free betting tips!