Thursday Football Tips: 22/1 Bet Builder for a massive night in the Europa League

British sides have it all to do on Thursday evening in the Europa League with Rangers and West Ham looking to overturn first-leg deficits in order to reach the final in Seville. Leicester played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Europa Conference semi, while Feyenoord take a 3-2 lead to France in the second leg against Marseille. 

After a couple of winners last week in this column, we’ve once again asked @AnthonyEadson to provide us with his best Bet Builder tips for the evening. He’s picked out a double he likes the look of that at the time of writing can be backed at 22/1 with Unibet.

West Ham travel to Germany on Thursday with the incentive of reaching a major European final. This will be a tough game for David Moyes’ side and I’m expecting plenty of cards to be shown, with hopefully one of those going to Declan Rice. Referee Jesus Gil Manzano takes the whistle for this game and he averages 5.00 yellow cards per game and has dished out at least one card to either side in his last six appearances in European competition. 

After an outstanding season, the West Ham midfielder is 10/3 to join Chelsea this summer, with Manchester United 7/2 and Manchester City 5/1, also in the race to capture his signature. Of all the Hammers players to have made over 10 league appearances this season, Rice ranks highest for tackles, making 2.1 per game and in the Europa League that average rises to 2.7 per game. 

A player who wears his heart on his sleeve, Rice will be doing everything to ensure his team makes this final and when it comes to card collecting this season, the midfielder has picked up eight in 33 starts. No other player has more for West Ham this season, with the 23-year-old also picking up another two cautions across his nine appearances in the Europa League. 

Rangers put in a solid display in the first leg with Red Bull Leipzig, losing 1-0 on the evening. The Scots welcome the Germans to Ibrox in the return fixture on Thursday evening and the player I’m backing to be carded north of the border is James Tavernier. 

When scouring the markets for this fixture I was surprised to see a rather inflated 7/1 on offer with Unibet for the right-back to be carded, with most other firms priced at around 7/2. I feel this price carries plenty of value when you consider that Tavernier is Rangers’ most carded player this season, picking up nine yellows in 33 matches in the SPFL.

I’ve also backed the single here on Tavernier at 7/1. I feel we are getting a strong price at 22/1 on both the Scot and Declan Rice being carded in a game with such significance, especially when considering that both players have picked up the most yellow cards for their club this season collecting 20 between them. With six goals already in the competition and with Tavernier also being the penalty taker for Rangers I wouldn’t put anyone off backing him to score and be carded at 40/1 with Unibet. 

Both matches can be seen live on BT Sport, kicking off at 8:00pm. Best of luck to anyone following and please gamble responsibly.