Brighton vs. AEK Athens Betting Tips: Joao Pedro to rack up the shots in Europa League clash
Brighton face AEK Athens in the Europa League on Thursday evening and we’ve called on Anthony Eadson to preview the action and provide two tips for the game from the Amex Stadium.
This will be Brighton’s first ever European campaign after their excellent sixth place finish in the Premier League last season. The Seagulls have been drawn in a fascinating group that includes AEK Athens, Ajax and Marseille. What Roberto De Zerbi is doing at the moment with the south-coast club is quite remarkable and his side are priced as the current second favourites to go all the way and win the Europa League trophy, priced at 12/1 with most betting sites.
AEK Athens managed to get the better of Dinamo Zagreb in the third Champions League qualifying round, but could not see off Royal Antwerp to reach the group stage. The Greek side arrive in England the massive outsiders, priced all the way out at 14/1 to kick off their Europa League campaign with a win.
Brighton vs AEK Athens Tips
Brighton really are flying at the moment and despite losing key players such as Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Robert Sanchez in the summer, they have kicked on and won four of their first five top-flight matches of the new season.
Their latest triumph came in a commanding 3-1 away victory against Manchester United on Saturday at Old Trafford, with Pascal Gross grabbing the seventh league goal of his career against the Reds. De Zerbi is sure to rotate his pack for this Europa League clash, but with Evan Ferguson set to come back into the starting XI and Ansu Fati ready to be handed his first start, they should have more than enough quality to see off AEK.
With Brighton’s attacking nature they can often leave space at the back and be overrun on the counter. The Seagulls have conceded in their last nine consecutive Premier League matches and BTTS has also landed in all of their four league victories this term.
There is no value in backing Brighton to win in the match result market where they are priced at just 1/4, so I’m therefore recommending the 19/10 available for them to win the match with both teams scoring. AEK have only had three league outings so far this term but are yet to taste defeat. They proved they could be competitive against both Dinamo Zagreb and Royal Antwerp and I think they can get on the scoresheet, despite the result ultimately finishing in a convincing win for the hosts.
I’ve been impressed with Joao Pedro so far this season and he should start this game in the number 10 role, just behind striker Evan Ferguson. It’s the shots on target market where I’m looking to get behind the Brazilian and I’ve taken him to record Over 1.5 Shots on Target in the match.
Joao Pedro has scored twice this season in the league, although he has only started two of Brighton’s five matches. Sky Bet, William Hill both have this selection priced odds-on at 10/11 and 17/20, while bet365 go shortest of the lot at just 4/7. With that in mind, 12/5 with BetUK looks a massively overpriced selection in a game that could see both Brighton and Joao Pedro rack up the shots on target.
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