European Football Clubs are Back in Action on Friday after Nations League Week

The final pieces of the puzzle were set in place midweek, when the national teams wrapped up the UEFA Nations League matches. It is now time for the football clubs to step into the spotlight and resume their chase for trophies in the most important European championships. There are big matches scheduled over the weekend, but action starts on Friday evening, with games in the Spanish, German, French and English championships. bet365 Sports and 888 Sport cover all these matches, with hundreds of markets available

Alaves Try to Keep the Dream Alive

On Friday evening at 8 PM UK time, Alaves travel to Leganes, hoping to claim the first place in the Spanish first division. A victory will propel them to the top, two points clear of Barcelona, but even a draw will allow them to tie the Catalans for the first place. Alaves have returned to their winning ways last week but only start with the second chance and odds of 21/10 at bet365 Sports to prevail on the road.

Leganes have a clear objective for the season and this is to avoid relegation, but so far they are not particularly successful in accomplishing it. That’s because they sit within the dangerous zone with only 10 points in 12 matches and are in dire need of victory tonight. Odds of 11/10 on the home team to prevail aren’t particularly tempting, given the fact that they haven’t won in the last seven matches.

Lyon and St Etienne Strive to Stay Invincible

PSG has a perfect record after 13 matches and they are simply too good to be called by the chasing pack. At the same time, the race has heated up at the top of Ligue 1 and several teams are chasing a champions league berth. Lyon and St Etienne haven’t lost in the last five rounds, are separated by a single point and the team winning on Friday will leapfrog several teams to temporarily claim second place.

Lyon have the advantage in head to head matches and a solid performance at home, which explains the low odds of 3/5 offered by 888 Sport. Their opponents are famous for their uncanny ability to salvage points on the road. This season however, they have deviated from the main strategy and have scored and allowed more goals than they usually do. We get excellent odds of 4/1 on them to win and 7/2 on a draw.

Struggling Leverkusen and Stuttgart Lock Horns on Friday

The Bundesliga resumes at 7:30 PM UK time with a match between two teams struggling in the lower half of the tables. Leverkusen have only 11 points in 11 matches, but they play against the rock-bottom team, with a puny eight games. Winner Sports offers odds of 3/5 on the hosts to prevail, while offering even better value of 9/2 on Stuttgart to claim a rare victory away from home.

None of these teams have finished a match undecided in the last seven around, so the possibility of a draw seems most unlikely. However, given the high-stakes and the fact that both teams have split points in many of the direct matches, odds of 7/2 are not to be ignored. This is also the kind of match that punters should consider if they want to bet on more than 2.5 goals to be scored.