Rangers v Lyon Europa League Tips: 15/8 Dessers the bet at Ibrox | OneFootball

UEFA Europa League

Rangers boss Philippe Clement is hoping for back-to-back group wins

Rangers and Lyon are hard to split after winning their Europa League openers so Dave Tindall is tipping a goalscorer as his best bet on Thursday...

Rangers v LyonThursday 03 October, 20:00Live on TNT Sports 3 & Discovery+

Rangers on a roll

Rangers reminded us that they can be a force in this competition by winning their opening group game 2-0 away in Malmo.

They set the tone with a goal inside 60 seconds as Nedim Bajrami tucked home when the ball rebounded to him after Cyriel Dessers had pounced on a poor backpass and struck the post.

Rangers should have scored plenty more but they put the game to bed in the second half when sub Ross McCausland was alert to win the ball and fire home off the inside of the woodwork.

Philippe Clement's side didn't concede a single shot on target in Sweden and they've now won their last four games to nil following a 1-0 success over Hibs on Sunday.

Seeing Celtic lose 7-1 to Dortmund on Tuesday night will also put a spring in the step of the home fans.

Lyon picking up after difficult start

Lyon lost three of their opening five games in Ligue 1 and were 3-1 down in the one match they won (4-3 v Strasbourg) in that poor start to the campaign.

But, like Rangers, they made a winning start in this tournament, also scoring a 2-0 success in their opener. That was at home to Olympiakos.

The French side have backed that up with a win at Toulouse on Sunday, again coming from behind to seal a 2-1 victory in added time.

Gers slight favourites to make it two out of two

As well as similar recent form, there's also a balance between the two sides when looking at recent history in Europe.

Rangers have only lost one of their last 10 Europa League games at Ibrox while Lyon have suffered defeat just once in their last 10 road trips in this competition.

The two were group rivals in the 2021/22 Europa League and although it was Rangers who went to the final, Lyon dominated the group, winning 2-0 at Ibrox and adding a 1-1 draw in France.

Rangers are 2.56 favourites on the exchange to win this one, with Lyon 2.86 and The Draw 3.7.

There's certainly an argument for all three results when taking into account both current form and history so I prefer to look elsewhere for the best bet.

Home in on Dessers

Cyriel Dessers has already found the net seven times in 11 appearances this season but, notably, the last six of those have all come at Ibrox.

He bagged singles against Motherwell and St Johnstone and doubles vs both Ross County and Dundee.

Overall, the Nigerian forward has struck six times in his six home games this term so is a real force at home.

Lyon may have shut out Olympiakos but they conceded four times in their two Ligue 1 domestic matches either side of that and Rangers will get chances.

Dessers looks a strong bet here to find the net at 15/8.

Lyon have some familiar faces in their ranks - former Arsenal pair Alexandre Lacazette and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, ex-Crystal Palace winger Wilfred Zaha and former West Ham and Brentford forward Said Benrahma, who scored against Olympiakos.

But the one most worthy of a look for Bet Builders is Rayan Cherki. The highly-touted youngster netted the other goal against Olympiakos and was also on target in the 3-2 home loss to Marseille so now has two in his last three games.

Backing Dessers and Cherki both to score pays just over 9/1 on the BB.

Recommended bets

1pt - Back Cyriel Dessers To Score @ 15/8

Staked: 10.5pts

Returned: 6pts

P/L: -4.5pts

Previous:2023/2024 P/L: -£20.792022/2023 P/L: +£16.792021/2022 P/L: +£8.692020/2021 P/L: +£3.06