Old Lady competing for three trophies
Juventus 2.0421/20 v Villarreal 4.216/5; The Draw 3.55/2
Wednesday 16 March, 20:00
Live on BT Sport 3
After a slow start to the season, Juventus have found form and will now be looking to land some surprise silverware.
At one stage even a top four finish looked doubtful. Now Juve are fourth in La Liga, with an eight point advantage over fifth placed Atalanta and are only seven points behind the leaders Milan.
Juventus are unbeaten in twelve games across all competitions (W8 D4) and in Serie A, are undefeated in 15 matches (W10 D5). With the side 1-0 ahead after the first-leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final, Juventus are still in with a chance of winning three trophies, as the reappointment of Massimiliano Allegri begins to bear fruit.
To a lesser extent, Villarreal have also turned their season around after a difficult start. Their 1-0 win over Celta Vigo at the weekend leaves them in seventh place in La Liga and very much in the hunt for European qualification.
The first-leg ended 1-1, with Villarreal fighting back after Juve took an early lead. It’s a measure of Villarreal’s current form that Juventus are a relatively big price to win at home, at a time when they are playing so well themselves.
That price of Evens on the Sportsbook for a Juventus win, is too good to ignore, for a team that are unbeaten in ten home games (W8 D2). To that solid start to our Bet Builder, we’ll add under 3.5 goals at 2/9, which has landed in nine of Juve’s last ten home games. Finally we’ll add ‘No’ in the Both teams to score in the first-half market, at odds of 1/7, which completes a treble at odds of 2.568/5.
Chelsea maintaining form since sanctions
Lille 4.47/2 v Chelsea 1.9420/21; The Draw 3.7511/4
Wednesday 16 March, 20:00
Live on BT Sport 2
The Champions League holders Chelsea will be looking to confirm their passage through to the quarter-finals, when they travel to Lille on Wednesday.
Chelsea already hold a 2-0 lead from the first-leg at Stamford Bridge. That win forms part of a twelve match unbeaten run (W10 D2), if you discount the penalty shootout defeat to Liverpool in the League Cup final, after a 0-0 draw.
Since Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government, which threw the future of the club into doubt, Chelsea have maintained their winning ways. They won 3-1 at Norwich in midweek, which was followed by a 1-0 win at home to Newcastle on Sunday.
Lille drew 0-0 at home to Saint-Etienne over the weekend. Currently sixth in Ligue 1, Lille are in fine defensive form, with the game against Chelsea being the only occasion that they have conceded over the last six games (W3 D2 L1).
With Lille having kept five clean sheets from those six matches, it could well prove to be another relatively tight game. Chelsea’s form suggests that they are good value to win at 20/23, with under 2.5 goals another generously priced addition at 5/6.
Kai Havertz scored the opening goal in the first-leg. He’s subsequently scored four goals in his last three games. Adding Havertz to score at 9/5 sees the overall odds of this Bet Builder swell to 11.34.
