The second-legs of the Europa Conference League quarter-finals take place on Thursday and there are four finely poised ties.
Fiorentina and Viktoria Plzen are level at 0-0 for their 17:45 return contest, while Lille trail Aston Villa 2-1 in a game that also gets underway at 17:45.
Fenerbahce will kick off in Turkey 3-2 down when they face Olympiakos at 20:00 and Club Brugge hold a narrow 1-0 lead in their 20:00 clash at PAOK.
- Lille to beat Aston Villa
- Over 3.5 goals in Fenerbahce v Olympiakos
- Club Brugge to beat PAOK
Lille Can Thrill Home Crowd
Aston Villa derailed Arsenal’s Premier League title push on Sunday, but Unai Emery’s men may see their hopes of Conference League glory disappear in Lille.
Villa were excellent in the second half at the Emirates last weekend, but the Villans put a huge effort into that clash with the Gunners and there has been limited time for Emery to freshen up his side.
Lille enjoyed a break since losing 2-1 at Villa Park and it’s worth noting that the Mastiffs have recorded excellent victories over Lens and Marseille in their last two Stade Pierre-Mauroy’s matches.
It could be argued that Paulo Fonseca’s men deserved a lot more from the Villa Park first leg, given that Lille had seven shots on target to Villa’s four, and the expected goals tally was 1.48 to 1.08 in favour of the French side.
At the prices, the hosts can be backed to turn the tie around at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
Istanbul Braced For Goals
There were five goals in the first leg between Olympiakos and Fenerbahce and the clash at the Georgios Karaiskakis Football Stadium featured 28 shots on goal.
That was a contest where both sides knew they had a return leg to follow, but that’s not the case in Istanbul.
Fener will have to go on the front foot, given that they trail Olympiakos 3-2, but they were extremely unfortunate to lose in Piraeus and Ismail Kartal’s men will fancy the job in the return leg.
That said, an Olympiakos goal would leave Fenerbahce in a precarious position and both angles look to set up a high-scoring contest.
Shrewd Brugge Look Tough To Beat
Club Brugge hold a 1-0 advantage over PAOK when they travel to Salonika and the Belgian side can seal the deal in style.
Nicky Hayen’s men limited PAOK to a single shot on target, two corners and an expected goals tally of only 0.18 at the Jan Breydel Stadium and home advantage may not be enough for Razvan Lucescu’s side to turn the tables.
Brugge warmed up for the tie with an excellent 3-0 league win over Antwerp on Sunday and they look excellent value to shine in Greece.
