Thursday Acca: Happy Hammers to march on, plus five other Europa League bets
- Lee Bassin
- 29 September 2021
West Ham host Rapid Vienna while Leicester, Celtic and Rangers are all looking for their first Europa League win of the Group Stage.
There's a significant interest north and south of the border as the Europa League continues on Thursday, and we've put together a list of six bets that you can pick from for your latest accumulator.
You can also take advantage of our fantastic ACCA INSURANCE offer to help you with your Thursday night punts.
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West Ham United vs Rapid Vienna
West Ham are set to host a Europa League match for the first time since 2016 and after a 2-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb, Hammers hopes are high that they can secure a win against Rapid that would go a long way to ensuring their qualification for the next round.
A 2-1 win at Leeds last time out was the perfect preparation for this matchup and in Michail Antonio, they have a half man, half monster truck of a striker who has the potential to tear Vienna a new one all by himself.
Good vibes at Rush Green as we put our final touches to prep for #WHURVN...#UEL pic.twitter.com/lJLEM0qnzC
— West Ham United (@WestHam) September 29, 2021
The visitors are pointless in Group H after conceding a 92nd-minute goal at home to Genk and they are in poor form domestically too, drawing two and losing three of their last five games.
The hosts should win this with plenty to spare, an opinion shared by the bookies who have priced them up at a super-skinny 1/4 for the win, so we'll roll the dice on West Ham -1 instead.
Legia Warsaw vs Leicester City
After a storming season in 2020, it's fair to say this campaign hasn't worked out exactly as Foxes fans would have hoped. Brendan Rodgers' men lying 13th in the Premier League with just seven points from their first nine games.
And Leicester would have been bitterly disappointed with the way they threw away a two-goal lead against Napoli in their opening Europa League match, drawing 2-2 at the King Power Stadium.
Legia Warsaw opened their Group C campaign with a surprising 1-0 win at Spartak Moscow and having followed that up with two victories from their next three games the hosts should provide a stern test in their 11th consecutive season of European football.
However, Leicester have all the tools to leave Poland with the win, including a certain Jamie Vardy, who has netted three in his last two games and looks back to his best after a patchy season.
The bookies make Leicester favourites to win and we're expecting the Foxes to take the good and eliminate the bad from their draw with Napoli and leave Warsaw victorious.
Sparta Prague vs Rangers
This match was set to take place behind closed sports after racist chanting by Sparta fans during their Champions League match against Monaco, but the hosts took advantage of a UEFA loophole and made 10,000 tickets available for free to children's groups.
So while the atmosphere will be more like a Justin Bieber concert than a soccer match, the hosts will be thankful for the support as they look to ignite their Europa League campaign after a bore draw at Brondby in their opening Group A game.
Rangers are propping up the group after a 2-0 loss at home to Lyon and will be keen to get their Europa League campaign back on track. However, their European form has been a real disappointment this campaign with just one win from five matches.
Their away form makes even grimmer reading, with a loss at Malmo and a 0-0 draw at Armenian mid-table side Alashkert. Playin against a Sparta side who have lost just one home game all season we reckon Rangers will be returning from Prague empty-handed.
Celtic vs Bayer Leverkusen
An extra bonus for Rangers fans this season has been the form of their bitter rivals. Celtic have lost four out of their last seven games in all competitions and are languishing in sixth place in the Scottish Premiership.
The departure of French striker Odsonne Edouard has been a bitter blow which the Bhoys are struggling to recover from, and while scoring wasn't a problem in their first Group G game at Real Betis, defending certainly was as Celtic lost an entertaining encounter 4-3.
Ange Postecoglu's men face just as stiff a test against a Leverkusen side currently lighting up the Bundesliga, lying in second place with four wins and a draw from their first six games.
Florian Wirtz, Patrick Schick and Moussa Diaby are proving to be a handful with 11 league goals between them, with 18-year-old Wirtz tipped for great things after becoming the youngest player to score 10 Bundesliga goals.
The young German is also off the mark in the Europa League too after netting in Leverkusen's 2-1 win over Ferencvaros. Keeping him quiet will be key to Celtic's chances of victory in Glasgow.
One positive is the Bhoys' home form - Celtic are unbeaten on their own patch, winning seven and drawing two of their nine games this season, a run that included a creditable draw with FC Midtjylland and victory over AZ Alkmaar.
Celtic have also scored in every one of their home games this season and that, combined with the talent in Leverkusen's ranks is enough to convince us that backing both teams to score is the way to go here.
Lazio vs Lokomotiv Moscow
One of the more bizarre images to come out of last weekend's Serie A matches was new Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri celebrating his side's derby win over Jose Mourinho's Roma with the club's mascot, Olimpia the Eagle.
And it was an apt image as Sarri's Lazio reign should now soar like his new feathered friend after a patchy start to the season that had seen his side win two, draw two and lose two of their first six matches.
Lazio will need to be at their best to dispatch a Lokomotiv side who are flying high themselves, unbeaten in nine league matches thanks to a defence that has conceded just six goals all campaign.
A 1-1 draw at home to Marseille in their first Group E match may look like a disappointing result on paper, but after finding themselves 1-0 down and a man down with half an hour to play, scoring an 89th-minute equaliser was a superb outcome.
We're expecting a tight game in Rome with the visitors more than capable of clipping the inconsistent hosts' wings, with under 2.5 goals our best bet here.
Sturm Graz vs PSV Eindhoven
One of the games of matchday one was PSV's pulsating 2-2 draw at home to Real Sociedad, but that was of little consolation to Roger Schmidt's side, who had been widely expected to open their Europa League campaign with a victory.
Their latest opponents Sturm Graz were by no means disgraced in a narrow 1-0 loss at Monaco and they have won their two games since then by an aggregate score of 8-0.
PSV were defeated 2-1 by Eredivisie surprise package Willem II last time out and Schmidt will expect a reaction from his team against a side who have lost 10 out of their last 12 home European matches.
PSV are a real step up from every side the Austrians have played this season, so we reckon Graz's home discomfort will continue against the Dutchmen and we're happy backing Eindhoven straight up on Thursday.
