Ange Postecoglou may never top winning the Europa League final with Tottenham but victory with Nottingham Forest over FC Midtjylland in the group stages of this season’s competition is going to be almost as important for the Australian .
Life has been anything but plain sailing since the former Celtic boss took over from Nuno Espirito Santo at the City Ground during last month’s international break and he has yet to lead them to victory in five matches which have yielded just two draws and three defeats.
One of the games which finished all square was against Real Betis in Spain last week when former Manchester United winger Antony scored a late equaliser and it followed a 1-1 draw with Burnley at Turf Moor.
The Tricky Trees then lost 1-0 at home to Sunderland to leave them 17th in the Premier League, one place above the bottom three of Burnley, West Ham and Wolves so victory against their Danish opponents would give Big Ange a welcome boost ahead of Sunday’s tough trip to face Newcastle at St James’ Park and alleviate the risk of suddenly coming under pressure following a slow start with his new club.
It won’t be easy as Midtylland have already won three times on their Europa League travels, enjoying success at Hibs, Fredrikstad and KuPS in qualifying, although Forest are clearly a cut above that level when they are at their best.
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To be fair, the problems on the banks of the River Trent started before Postecoglou took charge and they have just one win and a draw in their last seven home games and have failed to score in the five defeats.
Thank goodness then that England international Morgan Gibbs-White, who was at the centre of that bizarre transfer controversy with Tottenham in the summer, returns from injury to significantly boost attacking options.
His presence can inspire Forest to a victory against the visitors, who enjoyed a home win against Sturm Graz in round one of this term’s group phase as part of a run of ten wins in their last 11 matches, and Gibbs-White is 33/10 to score at any time with BetMGM.
Forest are 2/1 to prevail with both teams scoring while a 2-1 triumph is 15/2 with bet365, Sporting Index and SpreadEx.
Europa League and Conference League odds
Aston Villa should finally be up and running following the 3-1 win against visiting Fulham at the weekend and can build on that success with a Europa League victory at Feyenoord.
Ollie Watkins finally got off the mark with his first goal of the season in the win against the Cottagers and he is 11/2 with Unibet to open the scoring at De Kuip in Rotterdam and 19/10 with Betway to score at any time.
Robin van Persie’s side have seven wins and a draw from ten matches this season and one of the defeats was a 1-0 reverse at Braga in this competition last week. Villa’s renewed confidence should see them to victory at 6/4 with Betfred and a 2-1 outcome is 17/2 with bet365, Sporting Index, Unibet and SpreadEx.
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, are 3/5 with bet365 to build on Saturday’s 2-1 victory against Liverpool by winning their Conference League match with Dynamo Kiev at 3/5 with bet365. Jean-Philippe Mateta is 7/2 with the same turf accountants to open the scoring and 11/10 with Paddy Power, Betfair and BoyleSports to score at any time.
Horse racing odds
Aidan O’Brien is the best trainer of his generation by the length of the Longchamp home straight but, despite racking up wins in all the big races around the world, he only has two Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victories to his credit.
However, the Ballydoyle maestro can add Minnie Haux to Dylan Thomas’ success in 2007 and Found’s win in 2016 when Minnie Hauk is first past the post in the French capital on Sunday.
Victorious in the Oaks at Epsom in June as well as the Irish equivalent at the Curragh and the Yorkshire Oaks later this summer, the three-year-old filly has been supplemented for the big race to the tune of just over £100,000 and is the one to beat at 4/1 with William Hill and Coral.
French rival Aventure has been backed in from 16/1 to no better than 4/1 with the latter firm and Ladbrokes in the past week or so and is the main danger while O’Brien is bullish about the chances of Los Angeles, winner of last year’s Irish Gold Cup, and an each-way dabble may not go amiss at 33/1 with Hills, Coral, bet365 and others.