England’s three Europa League representatives will head into their second group games on October 5 aiming to boost their chances of progressing to the knockout phase.
Liverpool and West Ham United kicked off their campaigns with victories and will be confident of picking up positive results in their next matches.
Brighton & Hove Albion were defeated at home in their first European game, but have a golden opportunity to bounce back against a team struggling for form at the moment.
Read on as we preview their Matchday 2 encounters, starting with Liverpool’s fixture against a team they would be well advised not to underestimate.
Liverpool vs Union Saint-Gilloise
Liverpool are the early leaders in Group E after coming from behind to record a 3-1 away victory against LASK in Austria.
The Reds are the bookmakers’ favourites to win the Europa League, but it is much too early to be getting too carried away about their chances.
While they are expected to beat Union Saint-Gilloise in their second outing, the Belgian Pro league side are capable of springing a surprise.
They reached the quarter-finals of this competition last season and will head to Anfield believing they can take something from their visit to Anfield.
However, with Liverpool priced at odds of 2/11 to win the game, the bookies clearly think the result is a foregone conclusion.
Union did not lose on the road in the Europa League last term and could make things tricky, but the Reds possess enough talent to break them down.
Freiburg vs West Ham United
West Ham kicked off their Europa League campaign with a 3-1 home victory over Serbia side Backa Topola to move to the top of Group A.
Their next game is a trip to Bundesliga outfit Freiburg, who triumphed 3-2 at Olympiacos in their opening match in the group.
Freiburg have steadily improved since winning regaining their top flight status in 2015/16 – a point evidenced by their fifth-place finish last term.
The German side have been inconsistent in the league at the start of this season, but showed they could be tricky opponents against Olympiacos.
West Ham are currently in the upper half of the Premier League, but defeats against Manchester City and Liverpool show they still lag behind the top teams.
A draw in Germany would be a good result for West Ham, and odds of 14/5 to claim a point looks a decent value wager.
Marseille vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton had been touted as potential winners of the Europa League before the competition started, but were beaten 3-2 by AEK Athens in their first game in Group B.
Their cause was not helped by the absence of Republic of Ireland striker Evan Ferguson, with illness ruling him out of the clash with the Greek side.
However, punters in the UK and Ireland have been handed a boost with the news that Ferguson is in contention to start when Brighton travel to Marseille.
Based on that analysis, Ferguson to score anytime at a best-priced 31/20 seems to be a standout choice among the leading betting sites in Ireland for the upcoming round of Europa League games
The Ligue 1 side have endured a chaotic start to the season and Brighton could add to their woes by delivering a winning return to punters in this match.
With the Irish teenager spearheading their attack the Seagulls may boost their hopes of progressing to the knockout stage by winning in Marseille.
