Cup Round of 16, and honestly, the timing couldn't be better for PSG. They’ve got a league match in just six days, and then the Champions League kicks off shortly after that. In the league, PSG sits at 16-5-1, while Nice is holding down second place with 13-4-5. Now, look, PSG is missing a few guys due to the Africa Cup of Nations (Diallo, Gueye, Hakimi), and they've had some key injuries too—Neymar, Georginio Wijnaldum, Kurzawa, Bernat—but those guys haven't been available for a few games now anyway. Plus, the injury list was way longer until recently, so having Lionel Messi back, along with Sergio Ramos—who actually netted the first goal last game—is a massive boost. Most of the players PSG is missing are replaceable because their bench is frankly ridiculous in terms of quality. On the flip side, Nice is actually feeling the sting; they're missing two vital offensive pieces, Justin Kluivert and Andy Delort, which isn't something you can just swap out easily like PSG does. In their first meeting this season, PSG and Nice played to a 0-0 draw despite PSG absolutely hammering them with 22 shots to 4 and controlling 70% of the possession. We're heading back to Paris for this one at the Parc des Princes. That first game looked like a guaranteed PSG win on paper, but things didn't pan out that way. It'll be tough to replicate that exact scenario, but I'm expecting similar dominance. At the end of the day, PSG needs to prove who really runs French football—winning this cup is one of their primary goals, especially since it's a single-match knockout.
Rijeka is officially kicking off the American First Football League season with a wild average of 3.5 goals per game. Now, look—it’s true that Dinamo boasts the best defense in the league, but if you look at the Head to Head, Rijeka has absolutely hammered them, scoring 10 goals over their last four meetings. Honestly, I don't get why the odds are set this way. We're playing at the big stadium, the timing is perfect, and yeah, Dinamo is the favorite—but there's zero reason to expect some gritty, defensive grind, nor should we expect a routine blowout where Rijeka fails to find the back of the net.
Nobody had Egypt at the top of the list when this tournament kicked off—honestly, they looked pretty underwhelming in those first two matches—but they’re clearly finding their rhythm as things progress. They've got the best player in the whole competition, Mohamed Salah, and while they tried playing him centrally early on because they lacked options, they finally realized he's way more dangerous back on the wing. Besides, Mostafa Mohamed from Galatasaray can hold down the center just fine. Against a powerhouse like Ivory Coast, Egypt actually held their own, even if both sides struggled to break through offensively—which is why we ended up in a shootout. Defensively, they've tightened up big time, giving up only one goal in four games, including against a heavy hitter like Nigeria. Offensively, you always have a puncher's chance as long as Salah is on the pitch. Now, Morocco is easily one of the top African sides, but after breezing through Malawi, Gabon, and Comoros with two goals apiece, they’re in for a much tougher test against an Egyptian defense that actually knows how to park the bus. I'm looking at a 0-0 or a 1-0 grind for Egypt here, regardless of what the oddsmakers say about Morocco being the "favorite."
Just throwing a tip out there to get things moving. Arsenal is looking absolutely solid right now. On the flip side, Burnley is sitting at the very bottom of the table—and to make matters worse, they already offloaded their top scorer, Wood, to Newcastle. That leaves them relying on Vydra and Rodrigue upfront, who have managed a measly one goal between them all season. I’m expecting a physical match, but Arsenal has proven to be incredibly consistent when facing bottom-tier sides this year. Their midfield looks fantastic—so much creativity in there—and if everyone stays healthy, we’ve got a legitimate arsenal of weapons in the center with Smith Rowe, Saka, Martinelli, and Odegaard. Sure, we're missing Xhaka and Partey due to suspensions, but those two are defensive destroyers who aren't nearly as vital against weaker teams as they are when you're going toe-to-toe with City or similar giants. Arsenal's winning streak was snapped by Manchester City in what was actually an incredible game where Arsenal held the reins—until a red card and a 90+3 minute goal killed it. Still, it showed that Arteta is doing a stellar job; they are clearly evolving from just dominating small teams to being able to go toe-to-toe with the big boys. As for Burnley, besides losing Wood, they're also missing Cornet—their second best player and a regular for his national team—plus their starting center-back Taylor is out sick. An Arsenal victory should be a foregone conclusion. Burnley will probably try to park the bus and play purely destructive football to hunt for a 0-0, but Arsenal has too much creative depth and dominance over smaller clubs for that to work. I find it extremely hard to see anything else happening, even if Burnley manages to sneak a fluke goal early and then sits deep. In my book, they are the number one candidate for relegation.
Leeds finally got some key players back from injury, and honestly, you can see the difference immediately—their form is up and they’re looking much sharper on the pitch. That said, their defense is still a total mess due to missing personnel, and Bielsa’s high-octane philosophy basically invites chaos; they just play for goals and leave the back door wide open. As for Newcastle, we’ve lost count of how many times we’ve pointed out that their defense is a disaster waiting to happen, even if their attack is stacked. They brought in Wood—who was absolutely tearing it up for Burnley—but they also grabbed Trippier from Atletico Madrid. He’s an England international, sure, but let’s be real: he isn't exactly a defensive specialist. He’s there for those pinpoint crosses, free kicks, and corners. Since Leeds is playing at home, this is almost certainly going to be a high-scoring shootout.
Since Tudor took over, Verona has been playing this incredibly aggressive, attractive style of football—they’re actually sitting at second in the league for most goals scored! Even in the few games they lost this season, the squad looked significantly better than before. On the other hand, you've got Bologna stuck in the bottom half of the table and struggling hard right now—likely a perfect storm of suspensions, injuries, COVID hits, and international duty. They’re missing some massive pieces: Musa Barrow (AFCON), Lorenzo de Silvestra (illness), Ibrahim Mbaya (AFCON), Federico Santander (injury), and Adam Soumaoro (suspension from yellows). Verona’s defense is pretty shaky too, especially with Polish international Davidowicz still out, which is their biggest headache. Expect some wild swings in momentum and plenty of goals; there's a huge chance Verona takes the lead in the first half, though they might blow it—if they do, we can always look to secure things in the second half or late in the game. Verona is definitely the favorite here.
Tottenham under Conte in the Premier League are sitting at 5-3-0. Honestly, they look better match after match. Even with all this negative noise following those back-to-back losses against Chelsea, I think they’re ready to step up—or at the very least, they aren't going to let an underdog walk all over them. They’re the favorites here, and they desperately need to reclaim their standing. On the other side, there was all this drama about whether the game would even happen, but Leicester managed to pull a squad together. They've got guys returning to training from injuries and COVID, which gives them some depth, though—let's be real—they probably wouldn't even be options in a normal situation: Perez, Soumare, Justin, Thomas, Dewsbury-Hall, Soyunac, and Daka. Vardy is out, and a few others are away for the AFCON.
We were already talking about Watford last month—specifically that Dennis-King duo, which is basically the budget version of Salah and Jota. Everyone expects them to just hover around mid-table, which is why they brought in Ranieri to spice up the attack; that move actually paid off with that massive 4-1 win over Manchester United. Since then, even in their losses, they’ve been finding the net against tough sides like Chelsea, twice against Leicester, even City, and most recently Brentford. They finally tried playing a defensive game against Tottenham, and honestly, it looked solid right up until that 90+6 minute heartbreak when Spurs snatched it at the death. Again, that Dennis and King duo is like the "budget Salah and Jota," though there’s more talk lately that Dennis might actually be good enough for a top-tier club—he was back in training yesterday after recovering from his injury and narrowly avoiding the AFCON drama, so expect him in the starting XI. Watford’s next three matches are against Newcastle, Burnley, and Norwich—three games that will basically define their entire season. These are bottom-half teams they absolutely have to go out and attack to grab three points. I’d honestly rather see one win and two losses than three boring draws, and with this current attacking setup, they have a real shot at picking up more than one win since they won't need to park the bus like they did against Tottenham—which, let's face it, they'll probably go back to doing very soon. On the other side, Newcastle is going on a massive spending spree, especially in the backline, but so far only Trippier has signed—and he's hardly a defensive specialist; he’s more about those pinpoint crosses, corners, and set pieces. Newcastle's logic makes sense because their defense has been an absolute disaster lately, whereas their attack is stacked with options—plus, they just snagged Burnley's best striker, Wood.
Doosan Bears vs Kiwoom Heroes (Tue 11:30 AM) 2 2.35
Hanwha Eagles vs LG Twins (Tue 11:30 AM) 1 2.05
NC Dinos vs SSG Landers (Tue 11:30 AM) 2 2.25
Karim Benzema (idg) - Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad (Wed 9:30 PM) picks 1.80 Rayo Vallecano vs FC Barcelona (Wed 7:00 PM) 2 1.90 SS Lazio vs Fiorentina (Wed 8:45 PM) 1 2.00
Ssung Havertz (idg)-Che-Nor (sub 13:30) Let's go! 2,20 Crystal Palace vs Newcastle United (sub 16:00) Yeah. 2,10
redjackal said:FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid — October 24th at 4:15 PM. X 1,80 West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur — October 24th at 3:00 PM. X 1,80 Karen Karatsev vs. Marin Čilić — October 24th at 3:00 PM. 1 1,80
Midtjylland vs Aalborg is coming up this Monday at 7:00 PM—keep an eye on this one. 1 1,80
Aubameyang I’m all in on this one—count me in!@2,80
Edward Allen36 said:Los Angeles Atlético vs. Liverpool FC kicks off at 9:00 PM! Double or nothing—I’m putting my money on a draw or a home win at 4.5 odds.@1,84 Paris Saint-Germain vs. RB Leipzig tonight at 9:00 PM. I’m calling it now—one team to grab at least 6 corners and we see over 2.5 goals in this match.@2,02 Club Brugge vs. Manchester City kicks off at 6:45 PM. Over 5.5 corners and over 2.5 goals—let's go.@1,83
Benzema K. (idg+u)-ShaD-RMa (today 9:00 PM) Two plus two equals four—it's just basic math! 2,55 Martínez L.(idg+u)-IntM-Sh (uto 21:00) I'm all in on this! 2,00
sub 21:00 Seattle Sounders(h0:2)-LA Galaxy 2 @1,55
The Sounders aren't playing great, and honestly, they have zero motivation against LA. They just gave everything they had in a massive game against the Celtics three days ago—and they’ve got the biggest rematch of their lives coming up in just three days, too. They actually have a shot here! They're exhausted from the last one and they're definitely pacing themselves for the next big thing. Now, LA isn't bad at all—they've actually played pretty solid matches so far, even if they unfortunately lost to Houston 2:3 (and they were actually the better team). I expect Seattle to rotate their lineup, so even if they grab an early lead, I'm thinking they just sit on a routine 1:0 win... I absolutely don't see Seattle walking away with a 2:0 or 3:0 victory 🤷 they just don't have any depth on the bench this season, so they're going to fall apart in the second half—just look at what happened against the Celtics...
Oostende is a side with real rhythm—they started the season down 0-3 in the league 🤣 then held their own against Marseille, and even when they played a mixed squad in two league games, they dominated despite the loss. It's been a week since their European match, so they're rested and ready to go with their full strength... I'm taking them to win here, maybe even a double chance...