Europa League Betting: Spurs will apply the brakes

The Europa League's round of 16 is heading for its conclusion, and Kevin Hatchard has four selections.

Spurs to grind out a result

Dinamo Zagreb v Tottenham
Thursday 18 March, 17:55
Live on BT Sport

Tottenham's disappointing display and result in the North London has burst their Premier League bubble somewhat (apart from that outrageous Lamela rabona, of course), but they are still looking strong in the Europa League. A Harry Kane double gave Spurs a deserved 2-0 first-leg win, and they are well on their way to the quarter-finals.

Most of Tottenham's UEL games this term have been pretty exciting, goal-filled affairs, but I'm not convinced that'll be the case here. Mourinho will set his side up not to give Croatian champions Dinamo a route back into the game, and he will know that his team only really needs one away goal to effectively end the tie.

Dinamo are no pushovers, and they have kept clean sheets in six of their last eight UEL home matches, but they looked limited in attack in the first leg, managing just two shots on target in the whole game. I'll go for No in the Both Teams To Score market here at 2.18.


Dynamo to charge up second leg

Villarreal v Dynamo Kyiv
Thursday 18 March, 20:00
Live on BT Sport

Unai Emery's love affair with the Europa League has continued this season, and the Yellow Submarine is cruising towards the last eight after a 2-0 win in Ukraine against Dynamo Kyiv. Given that Villarreal beat Salzburg home and away in the round of 32, they are certainly a team to be respected, especially with Emery's hat-trick of wins in the competition.

Dynamo are top of their domestic league, ahead of old rivals Shakhtar for once, but they were decimated by injuries ahead of the first leg. Star player Viktor Tsygankov is back, and that should give an attacking boost to a team that scored in both legs against Club Brugge, and only failed to score in one of their six group matches.

I suspect rescuing the tie is beyond Dynamo, but I believe they can at least grab a goal, and I'll back Both Teams To Score at 2.02. Villarreal have managed just two clean sheets in their last 11 competitive matches.

Young Boys can go down scrapping

Young Boys v Ajax
Thursday 18 March, 20:00
Live on BT Sport

Ajax took a massive step towards the quarter-finals last week, as they beat Young Boys 3-0. It was one-way traffic throughout, and although Ajax had to wait to score two of their goals in the last ten minutes, the goals were well-deserved when they arrived.

Young Boys might not be able to save the tie, but they did put six goals past Bayer Leverkusen over two legs in the previous round, and the runaway Swiss Super League leaders will give this a proper go. They've only lost twice at home all season, so I'll back them to avoid defeat here. We can combine a Young Boys/Draw bet with Over 1.5 Goals at 2.0 on the Sportsbook's Same Game Multi.

Bedlam in Budapest

Molde v Granada
Thursday 18 March, 17:55
Live on BT Sport

Granada's fairytale under outstanding coach Diego Martinez further improved last week, as their 2-0 win over Molde put them in the driving seat in this tie. Now they face a Molde team that has to play their home leg in Budapest because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, a team that is short of match-sharpness because of the end of the Norwegian season.

Molde did brilliantly to dump out Hoffenheim in the last round, but this might be a stretch too far against a Granada side that has beaten PSV and Napoli in this competition. Although Granada might try to dig in a bit, their last nine games away from Los Carmenes have featured three goals or more, and Molde have to go for it. I'll back Over 2.5 Goals on the Sportsbook at evens.

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