Bets
Empoli – Cittadella
Last season’s Serie B champions Empoli step into Coppa Italia tonight as they welcome Cittadella to Stadio Carlo Castellani. After a great pre-season with four wins and two draws in six friendlies, it’s with great confidence Azzurri get the official season started.
Empoli have kept most of their key players from last season and have further strengthened the squad with some great signings like Luca Antonelli (AC Milan), Jacob Rasmussen (Rosenborg), Samuel Mraz (21 goals for Zilina last season), Antonia La Gumina (11 goals for Palermo last season) and Matias Silvestre (Sampdoria). Although we might not see all of them in action tonight, a few will certainly start as Empoli boss Aurelio Andreazzoli has stressed the importance of getting off to a good start to the season.
Cittadella started their season with a less than impressive 1-0 win against Monopoli in the previous round of Coppa Italia and now face much tougher competition.
They have not made any real key signings during the summer and with more of a focus on the league this season we believe that Empoli will just be a little bit too strong here.
Date & Time: 12 August 2018 – 20.30 CEST
Competition: Coppa Italia (Italy)
Match: Empoli – Cittadella
Pick 1: Empoli Asian Hcp -0.5, -1
Odds: 1.66 @ Unibet
Stake: 15 EUR
Rating: 2/5
Result: 0-3, bet lost.
Free tips
RB Leipzig Women on the up
Newly promoted RB Leipzig are heading to bottom of the table MSV Duisburg tonight in the sixth round of the Frauen Bundesliga. Duisburg are still winless and faced heavy defeat in their last league outing to Eintracht Frankfurt (1-5). The Zebras have already conceded 21 goals this season while only scoring four and will struggle to stay in the division.
They still have to do without Sarah Freutel, Alexandra Emmerling, Jelena Prvulovic and Brooke Denesik, and received another blow as Danish centre back Emilie Henriksen also will miss the game due to illness.
RB Leipzig hope to pick up their second win of the season and were happy to see all their international players come back healthy and raring to go after the break. Elvira Herzog, Michela Croatto, Julia Magerl and Korina Janez all trained with the team this week and look sharp.
We’re rather confident of an away win here.
Date & Time: 3 November 2023 – 17:30 GMT
Competition: Bundesliga Women (Germany)
Match: MSV Duisburg – RB Leipzig
Pick 1: RB Leipzig Asian Hcp -1
Odds: 2.05 @ bet365
Stake: 15 EUR
Rating: 2/5
Result: 1-1, bet lost.
Bets
New manager boost for Ajax
To say that Ajax’s start to the season has been poor is an understatement. In fact, Ajax are incredibly enough bottom of the Eredivise table after their opening eight games, the worst start ever for the club. It came as little surprise then when head coach Maurice Steijn was relieved of his duties and replaced with Hedwiges Maduro on an interim basis. He did not fare much better in his two games in charge, a 0-2 loss to Brighton followed up by a 2-5 loss at PSV. This led to the club appointing John van’t Schip as their new manger on a two year deal.
van’t Schip has only had a few days to prepare for tonight’s game against struggling Volendam, but just having a permanent manager, let alone a club legend, in place must be seen as a boost. Also, the visitors are the worst away team in league, having lost all their four league outings this season, scoring only four goals in the process while conceding a whopping 12.
This is the perfect rebound spot for Ajax and despite their struggles so far, we believe they will go all out here and win this comfortably.
Date & Time: 2 November 2023 – 19:00 GMT
Competition: Eredivise (Netherlands)
Match: Ajax – Volendam
Pick 1: Ajax Asian Hcp -1.5, -2
Odds: 1.86 @ bet365
Stake: 15 EUR
Rating: 2/5
Result: 2-0, bet won! (half win)
Pick 2: Ajax HT/FT
Odds: 1.72 @ bet365
Stake: 15 EUR
Rating: 2/5
Result: Half time score: 0-0, bet lost.
Pick 3: Over 3.5, 4 goals in the game
Odds: 1.925 @ bet365
Stake: 15 EUR
Rating: 2/5
Result: 2-0, bet lost.
Free tips
Rotating Rovers without chance
Chelsea get a welcome break from league football when they welcome Championship side Blackburn Rovers to Stamford Bridge tonight. A place in the Carabao Cup quarter finals is at stake and the Blues aim to go all the way.
Rovers are expected to make some changes to the team that lost 0-1 at home to Swansea at the weekend and Jake Garrett, Adam Wharton, Dilan Markanday and Andrew Moran all could get a start here. Captain Lewis Travis will start but Rovers’ manager Jon Dahl Tomasson will have to do without top scorer Sam Szmodics who is nursing an injury picked up at the weekend.
Chelsea could also give some of the non regular starters a chance to shine, with the likes of Armando Broja and Ian Maatsen. We could also see Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk, who missed the league defeat to Brentford at the weekend, start.
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino said: “We will try to play with our best team. Some players will need to rest because after Saturday’s game we can’t take risks. But, in general, we will try to play our best team.”
We will take his word for it and expect Chelsea to win this rather comfortably.
Date & Time: 1 November 2023 – 19:45 GMT
Competition: Carabao Cup (England)
Match: Chelsea – Blackburn
Pick: Chelsea to win & Under 4.5 goals
Odds: 1.73 @ Skybet
Stake: 15 EUR
Rating: 2/5
Result: 2-0, bet won!