Club Brugge v Leicester Betting Preview – UEFA Champions League 14th September
Things haven’t been going terrifically well for Leicester in their Premier League title defence, so how will they fare in their big UEFA Champions League opener? The club are making their debut in the competition and this is a big moment for them and punters are behind them well enough for them to get out of their group having received a favourable draw. Can they open with a bang and put three points on the board on their trip to Belgium on Wednesday night? Their opponents are making their return to this stage for the first time in a decade so the playing field could be pretty level in this one.
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Club Brugge v Leicester Betting Tips
This should be a pretty interesting and entertaining affair in its own right, despite being a bit of undercard on this week’s UEFA Champions League fixture list. Leicester are making their debut in the tournament while Club Brugge are back for the first time in a decade. The last time that Club Brugge were here, it didn’t go all that well for them because they only finished third after having lost two of their three home fixtures. Their only success on home soil came in a 1-0 triumph over Legia Warsaw, all this coming back in the 2005/06 Champions League. The last encounter with an English club for Club Brugge came fairly recently, just in last seasons’ UEFA Champions League play offs when they were paired with Manchester United. The Belgians lost that one 7-1 on aggregate on that occasion. They aren’t a big threat and they have only managed to keep two clean sheets in their last 15 Champions League games.
Overall, club Brugge hold a W6 D2 L2 record at the Jan Breydelstadion against English opponents. However, you have a long stretch of them going winless against English sides since their victory over Chelsea in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. It’s been eight games since then (D2 L6) without a win against an English opponents and none of those eight games yielded a clean sheet for the Belgians either. They aren’t in any particularly good form at the moment as they are running with a W2 D1 L3 record in the Belgian top flight this season. They have played just the two home fixture this season and have gone unbeaten with a W1 D1 record. It’s not overwhelming stuff and they don’t appear to have a big attacking threat. Jelle Vossen is a 2/1 anytime goalscorer for them in this one and you are probably going to be served by going under 2.5 goals for a price of 8/11 with online betting site Bet365.
So Leicester will be making their Champions League debut. It’s been a long while since we saw them in European action, their last coming back in the 2000/01 UEFA Cup when they lost in the first round against Red Star Belgrade. They have only played the eight games in Europe before and they won their first two (against Glenavon) and then they have put together a six match winless streak in European competition. Boss Claudio Ranieri has experience in all of this, with Leicester being the sixth club that he has coached in the UEFA Champions League. This will be the first ever competitive meeting between Leicester and Club Brugge and it is the Foxes who are running as favourites to take the win away from home.
Leicester have only gone W1 D1 L2 in their Premier League title defence so far, but they have scored in all but one of their five games this season, but on the flip side they have only taken the one clean sheet. Their success last season was built on defensive strengths and they only lost the two games away from home last season. It is highly likely that they will sit back and try to catch their opponents to the greeks with their speed. In the anytime goalscorer market you have Jamie Vardy who is running at a quote of 7/4 in the anytime goalscorer market with Islam Slimani at 2/1 and Riyad Mahrez at 9/4. As neither of these would immediately appear to a prolific goalscoring side, there’s value in looking at a one goal winning margin for the Foxes which is a punt of 3/1.
Club Brugge v Leicester Betting Odds
Leicester 6/4, Club Brugge 21/10, Draw 23/10
Club Brugge v Leicester Predictions
Would ride with the Foxes getting a win on the board tin this one. Their opponents really don’t look up to all that much and the Foxes should get enough chances on the break to collect maximum points. It is probably going to be a low scoring affair, because the Foxes will want to stay tight. This could be an important three points to kick off with for the Foxes, they are in a group which they can win. It all starts here.
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