For European football clubs playing on Friday, the matches are of critical importance and could ultimately determine their fate at the end of the season. In all major championships, teams struggling at the bottom of the standings take on better opponents and they don’t have home pitch advantage.
Relegation Looms for Cardiff and Fulham
Cardiff are in serious danger of returning to the Championship at the end of the season, but at least they sit above the relegation area. The same can’t be said about Fulham who only have 17 points and start with the second chance against West Ham. The smaller Derby of London will be nevertheless intense for the fans of the two teams, while punters can expect odds of 9/10 on the hosts. bet365 Sports offers odds of 3/1 on the visitors to win and 2/1 on Cardiff to snatch all three points against Watford. Both games are scheduled to start at 7:45 PM UK time and the likelihood of a draw is high in both cases.
Huesca’s and Stuttgart’s Misery Likely to Continue
Huesca played surprisingly well in the opening rounds of the season, but since then they have sunk into near irrelevance. At the time of writing, they sit in the last place and it looks like only a miracle could save them from relegation. The first step can be made on Friday when they play on the road at Espanyol, but 888 Sport doesn’t give them too many chances to win, as reflected by the odds of 4/1.
In the German Bundesliga, Stuttgart plays on the road at Bremen and if the odds of 3/5 at Intertops come to fruition, they could slip back below the relegation line. A poor defensive effort, doubled by a weak attacking unit has greatly complicating their mission of remaining in the first flight for another season. Werder have scored and conceded plenty of goals this season and this should be an open match.
Empoli is another team fighting for its life on Friday and among all the football clubs discussed so far, they are the biggest underdogs. In the match starting at 7:30 PM UK time, they travel to AC Milan and Winner Sports offers odds of 8/1 on them to win. The hosts have won seven games out of 12 at San Siro, so the otherwise low odds of 7/10 are justified and even worth considering by punters.