Europa League Group Stages Round Up

The Europa League group stages have finished and now eight Champions League teams have joined we have the Round of 32 up next! 

Last night, was the final week of the Europa League and it was a successful night for British teams. Man United, Arsenal, Wolves, Celtic and Rangers all made it through to the next round.

Unlike the Champions League, this is going into the round of 32. This is due to their being four more groups in the Europa League, plus the eight third-placed team in the Champions League also join the competition.

The draw for the next round takes place on Monday, straight after we find out who the 16 teams in the Champions League will draw. The rules of the draw are all exactly the same as the Champions League. First place plays second place, you cant draw a team fro the same group or country and first place teams play there home leg second.

Due to the Europa League needing to get two more games in, in a shorter period of time the games are closer. Both legs will be played from 20th – 27th of February.

As we said, there are five British teams still left in this competition and we’ll look at some of the teams they can get in the next round and their odd’s.

Man United

Ole’s side went through as top of their group with 13 points. They won four and were beaten once. Man United are Betfred’s favourite to win the competition at 5/1. They finished off the group stages with a 4-0 win, scoring all the goals in an eleven-minute spell in the second half. United will be hoping to avoid Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting CP and Wolfsburg in the next round. A game against Rangers would be an interesting encounter due to ex-Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard being their manager. If they play how they did against City last weekend, they could walk this competition.

Arsenal

The other English side to go through as a top-seeded side is a managerless Arsenal. Ljumberg is currently in temporary charge and that could be why their odds have dropped to 13/2. They are going through a tough period of form at the minute but have the quality to turn it around. This was shown last season when they managed to get to the final of the Europa League. Like United, they will be looking to avoid the more established teams and draw CFR Cluj, Club Brugge, APOEL etc. If they can sort their defensive issues out they should go far in this competition especially with Aubameyang leading the way.

Wolves

The club from the Midlands could be one of the dark horses in this year’s competition. They finished second in their group and are priced at 12/1. Wolves play some fantastic football and have shown on their day they are capable of beating any side. With them being in second place, they will likely draw a tougher team, with Inter, Ajax and Porto just a few they can draw. It will be interesting to see how Wolves manage to cope with a busy Premier League schedule and the Europa League.

Celtic

The Scottish side managed to win their group finishing one point ahead of Cluj. They are priced higher than any of the English teams at 33/1. Celtic Park is a tough place to go for any team, but it’s their away form that could cause them trouble. They won just one of their away games in the Europa League group stages and now they will be going away to tougher sides. Finishing first will help them as their second leg in the Round of 32 will be at home.

Rangers

The highest-priced side from Britain is Rangers. They finished just one point behind Porto in their group and were only beaten once which is a fantastic record. If they can keep their main players fit in terms of Kent, Morelos etc then this could be an interesting run. Gerrard will know how to get the best out of his players and at 50/1 on Betfred, it could be worth a punt!