Favorites Hope for Golden Saturday in Major European Football Leagues
Published August 25, 2018 by Florin P
Derbies rock the Italian Seria A, while the best teams in the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 take on weaker opponents.
Most of the leading European championships have started and the Bundesliga joins them this weekend. The reigning and past champions are chasing new trophies and the favorites have high expectations from this Saturday. That’s because across most of the important leagues, the best teams are pit against newly promoted squads. bet365 Sports covers these matches and provides punters with the chance to place some great accumulators. There’s also the opportunity of predicting major upsets and cash in on top odds.
Lopsided Matches in the Premier League
Manchester City play the first match of this round in the English first division, at 12:30 pm UK time. They play on the road, but still only get odds of 1/4 at 888 Sport to defeat Wolverhampton. A few hours later at 3 PM, Arsenal play against their London rivals at Emirates Stadium. Even though this is in theory a local Derby, the hosts are overwhelming favorites and punters only get odds of 2/5. The afternoon ends with a match between Liverpool and Brighton, in which the hosts are expected to win easily. The odds are only 1/5, so an accumulator on all Saturday favorites will only result in even odds.
Easy Fixtures for Atletico and Barcelona
The two teams have won the Spanish La Liga in recent years and are among the main favorites to do it again. None is expected to falter on Saturday, as they take on newly promoted Rayo Vallecano and Valladolid. Atletico Madrid play first at 7:15 p.m. UK time and have home pitch advantage, while Barcelona play two hours later on the road. Winner Sports offers identical odds of 1/5 on them to win which accurately reflect the difference between the favorites and the underdogs. In the first match of the day, Alaves and Betis are evenly matched and the odds of 17/10 on each team to win reflect the balance.
The Best Games are in Serie A
This Saturday, it is the Italian first division that has scheduled the most exciting games. Juventus and Lazio meet at 5 PM GMT in Turin, where the reigning champions are big favorite. They are only given odds of 3/10 to win by Intertops Sportsbook after signing Cristiano Ronaldo. In the other Derby of the day, Napoli welcomes AC Milan in a match scheduled at 7:30 PM UK time. The hosts have staged and incredible comeback in the previous round against Lazio and are justly credited with the first chance.
A New Season Starts in the Bundesliga
Schalke and Leverkusen are just playing in the opening round of the German first division, but the stakes are already high. These are two of the teams chasing a Champions League presence next season, as winning the Bundesliga is most unlikely. Schalke play on the road at 2:30 PM UK time, while Leverkusen wrap up this Saturday matches at 5:30 PM UK time. Both are slight favorites to prevail and the odds on their victory revolve around 7/4 at bet365 Sports. Newly promoted Nuremberg start with the second chance on the road against Hertha Berlin, as reflected by the 2/1 odds.
PSG Hope to Extend their Lead in Ligue 1
The reigning champions and the best team in French football struggled heavily in the previous round and were lucky to win against Guingamp. PSG have home pitch advantage and will play against Angers, a team they have defeated on many occasions. Not surprisingly, we only get odds of 1/10 at 888 Sport on them to prevail in the match starting at 4 PM UK time. The other Ligue 1 games are scheduled for 7 PM and the hosts are all slight favorites; Nice and Nantes are credited with the best chances and odds of 9/10.
