Betting.Betfair.com
·26 September 2024
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·26 September 2024
Can Atletico Madrid challenge for the title this season?
Ajax have underperformed for a couple of seasons now, but Francesco Farioli joined from Nice as their new manager in the summer, and he has made quite a promising start to life in Amsterdam.
It's seven wins from 10 competitive matches in charge, and they cruised through the qualifying stage of this competition. Their league position of ninth is also a bit false, as they have two games in hand over most of the teams above them.
Tonight they host Besiktas in the first of their Europa League matches, with the visitors returning to this tournament for the first time since 2020. Last season they exited the Champions League at the group stage - and they had quite a weak draw.
Roma would have been delighted to pick up their first win of the season against Udinese at the weekend, and I am backing them to build on that in their Europa League fixture against Athletic Bilbao.
The Spanish club are flying in La Liga, with four wins from their last five outings, but when they have faced one of the better teams, they have been beaten.
The Italians are still in transition following the departure of Jose Mourinho and then Daniele De Rossi, but they are a good price to win at Stadio Olimpico.
We finish in La Liga, where I think that Atletico Madrid can win a tricky fixture at Celta Vigo.
The hosts are ninth in the table having won three and lost three of their six outings to date. Admittedly, all three of their victories came from their three home matches, but their opponents were Alaves, Valencia and Real Valladolid - and they didn't keep a clean sheet in any of them.
Diego Simeone's visitors are unbeaten in their six fixtures, and while it's just one win from three on the road, they have had a much tougher run of opponents.
Wagered: 36pts
Returned: 24.87pts
P/L: -11.13pts