In the New Year, we will witness one of the most celebrated milestones in the English football season: the third round of the FA Cup. This is the stage at which the 20 Premier League teams enter the world’s oldest national football competition.
Liverpool and Real Madrid have a rich Champions League history but it is the Spanish giants who have enjoyed the better of things in recent years. The Whites have beaten the Reds in two of the last five finals and knocked them out in the quarter-finals two seasons ago.
RB Leipzig have shown they can trouble Man City going forward, but stopping the Blues at the other end is a much bigger problem. When these teams met during the group stage last season, City prevailed 6-3 at Etihad Stadium before going down 2-1 in Germany.
Borussia Dortmund will be relying on their passionate home fans to help them claim a first-leg lead over Chelsea at Westfalenstadion. The German outfit are the underdogs to progress from this tie but are traditionally strong at this venue and a crowd of over 80,000 supporters could make the difference.
PSG and Bayern Munich have had some cracking Champions League battles in recent years and another mouth-watering clash is on the cards this term. The big-spending French aristocrats were unbeaten during the group stage, but FC Hollywood impressed more as the only team to win all six matches.
AC Milan and Tottenham have both had limited experience of Champions League knockout football in recent seasons and that could be apparent at the San Siro. That means there are likely to be some nerves on show here and a first-leg draw is our initial prediction.
The group stages of the Champions League, the Europa League and the Europa Conference League are over and the first set of European knockout draws have been made. We have analysed how the balls came out and what the pairings mean for each team’s prospects.
Manchester City are firm favourites at 7/4 in bwin’s Champions League winner odds after drawing RB Leipzig at the last-16 stage. Last season’s finalists Real Madrid and Liverpool have been paired together, while Bayern Munich will take on PSG in another glamour tie.
Manchester United are 8/1 in bwin’s Europa League winner odds after being drawn to face Barcelona in the knockout play-off round. The Catalan giants have dropped into this competition after finishing third in their Champions League group and are 11/2 to lift the trophy.
Lazio are 5/1 second favourites behind West Ham in bwin’s Europa Conference League predictions after drawing CFR Cluj in the knockout round play-offs. Don’t forget to check out bwin’s Enhanced Accas page for daily price boosts on multiple bets from all over the world.
Real Sociedad and Manchester United have already qualified from Europa League Group E but top spot and an automatic last-16 berth is up for grabs. The Red Devils need to win by more than one clear goal to avoid heading into the knockout round play-offs.
Arsenal have to beat FC Zurich to make sure of topping Europa League Group A and going straight through to the last 16. The Gunners only prevailed 2-1 against the same opponents in Austria on Matchday 1 but did dominate proceedings, having 70% of possession.
We’ve got five Europa League predictions from Thursday’s final round of group-stage games and will land a 51/1 accumulator if they all come in. Don’t forget to watch out for bwin’s Enhanced Accas, with price boosts provided on a number of popular combinations.
We’ve got Champions League predictions for Wednesday’s Matchday 6 group-stage games and are hoping to land a near-69/1 pay-out. Don’t forget to watch out for bwin’s Enhanced Accas, with price boosts provided on popular combinations throughout all competitions.