Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup in Russia last summer was a clear indication that it was time for a major overhaul of the national team. Roberto Mancini was brought in as manager, and apart from a few stalwarts in the squad he has been ruthless when it comes to dropping players.
The likes of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci remain mainstays in the back line, but this most recent iteration of their squad has them as the only players with more than 40 international caps to their name. In fact, 18 of the squad haven’t even made it to double figures on the international scene, and five of them are uncapped.
This is still very much a work in progress for Mancini though. Since he took over last May, Italy have won just three of their nine matches, drawing four times and losing twice. Admittedly they have faced some tough opposition during that period, but considering their status they really should have a better record than this.
Nevertheless, they are clear favourites when it comes to Euro 2020 qualifying group J. They have been drawn alongside the likes of Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Liechtenstein, and Saturday’s opponents Finland.
The visiting Finns don’t have anything close to the talent pool of Italy, and Norwich striker Teemu Pukki is the only player in the squad with more than 10 goals to his name. They have, however, got a solid and organised defensive strategy to draw upon.
Finaldn have lost just three of their last nine matches, and they have avoided defeat against the likes of Austria, Croatia, and Sweden in this period. They have conceded only eight goals in these nine matches, although their poor attacking record doesn’t help matters for them.
It also leads to a lot of low scoring matches. In fact, 12 of Finland’s last 13 matches have seen fewer than three goals scored, and they’re facing an Italy side struggling to find the net themselves. None of Italy’s last seven games have seen more than two goals, and looking even further back they have only seen three or more goals in two of their last 16 matches.
Additionally, each of the last five meetings between Italy and Finland have seen fewer than three goals, which all culminates in us backing Under 2.5 Goals along with a tight 1-0 win for the hosts.

This Thursday’s match comes from Group E of Euro 2020 Qualifying. Hungary are hoping to reach the Finals again having successfully made it to France in 2016. Slovakia were also at that competition, only the second time they’d qualified for a major tournament as an independent nation. The expansion of the Euros to 24 teams has clearly benefited both nations, however they will have a much harder time making it this time around.
No side in this group was able to make the play-offs via the UEFA Nations League. Therefore the battle for the top two qualification places will be intense and these are the two sides who will be hoping to edge out Croatia and Wales, the two top seeds in this group. As a result this is a really big game for both sides and with home advantage, the onus is on Slovakia to try to force the tempo here.
They only won 1 of their 4 Nations League fixtures in the Autumn, however they will take heart from a 4-1 home win against Ukraine, in their final home match in that competition. Hungary were playing in a lower tier and although they won 3 of their 6 matches, they were unable to seal promotion or a shot at the play-offs, which would have been a potential backdoor into Euro 2020.
The value here looks to lie with the home team. Slovakia’s home record is a strong one. They won 80% of their home 2018 World Cup qualifiers to nil, with the exception being the narrow defeat to what was then Sam Allardyce’s England. They’ve won 7 of their 9 home games since then.
They will also have the one player on the pitch that is of proven quality at the highest level, in the shape of Marek Hamsik. They do have a strong midfield overall and while they are a bit light in strikers, they have plenty of players who can score goals in their side and they’ve not failed to net at home since that 1-0 defeat to England two and a half years ago.
Hungary meanwhile are without a win in 8 on the road, losing 6 of those games. They even lost away to Andorra in World Cup qualifying, rounding off what has been quite a decline since they made Euro 2016. They’ve only won one away game since that competition and it’s hard to see that changing here.
As a result, backing Slovakia to Win looks a solid bet here.

The hosts are in excellent shape on home soil and have proven throughout the season that Field Mill is one of the toughest places in the league to come and get a result. However, their visitors have managed to find the back of the net in each of their 21 league matches and have the best away record in the division. With this in mind, I think that both will look to be positive and backing both teams to find the back of the net looks to be the best way to get a decent return from this contest.

Second-placed Lille lost at home to Monaco on Friday night and that's another nail in the coffin of their Ligue 1 title hopes. PSG now lead the table by 17 points and have two games in hand! They can go 20 points clear with a home win over Marseille and that's exactly what looks like happening. They showed no ill-effects from their Champions League exit when beating Dijon 4-0 away last weekend. PSG have won all 14 of their home league games this season scoring 50 goals and conceding just five (just two more than Manchester United put past them). Only one of their last 56 home league games has ended in defeat, a record going back to 2016.
Marseille are fourth in the table and that would be enough to take them into next season's Europa League.That's the only league position that gets you playing Thursday night football next season and they lead fifth-placed Reims by four points. Marseille have larger fish to fry though as they could yet get into the Champions League. They trail third-placed Lyon by three points. Marseille are unbeaten in their last six league games but have only won two of the last seven on the road. This looks booked for another PSG home win with them leading at both half and full-time.

In their last 9 games in Europa League, RB Salzburg have scored at least once We have seen RB Salzburg concede 1+ goals in their last 8 away matches in Europa League Over 2.5 goals have been scored in RB Salzburg's last 4 away matches in Europa League On average , RB Salzburg have been scoring 2.75 goals in their most recent away matches in Europa League SSC Napoli have managed to score an average of 2.50 goals scored in their matches in Europa League

Arsenal hosts the struggling side that just managed a 1 – 1 draw with Wolverhampton on Saturday and they will be looking at this as a very winnable game, and they need the points too, as they look to consolidate fourth place, having ascended there by virtue of Manchester United’s draw with Liverpool. They will be hoping to further keep their slot, considering Chelsea have a game in hand and are set to face a tough one, against Tottenham Hotspur. The Gunners have seven straight home wins in the Premier League and are unbeaten in 13 of the 14 played there this season. Their only home loss came on the opening day, against Manchester City. Arsenal have suffered just four losses at home in their last 45 Premier League games at The Emirates. They have scored two goals or more in five of their last six league matches at home. On the flipside, Bournemouth are winless in their last three matches, losing two and drawing one. It has been particularly tough for them away from home, with nine back to back losses and they have managed just three goals in those nine. In the nine straight losses, they have conceded two goals or more in eight, which doesn’t paint a very good picture of their defence and especially when they head to meet an Arsenal side with two players having hit 25 league goals. Arsenal have never failed to score in their seven meetings with Bournemouth and have scored two or more in six of the seven meetings. Five of the seven meetings have ended in over 2.5 goals and Arsenal have won five, while Bournemouth have one win.

It's hard to see Celtic making a comeback in this Europa League last 32 tie. They needed a good result in the home first leg but despite their impressive form at Celtic Park, they lost 2-0 to Valencia. Now they travel to Spain knowing that Valencia are even tougher on home territory. They won two of their three home games in the Champions League group stages beating both Young Boys and Manchester United. Only two of their last 31 home games in the Europa League have been lost, the most recent one being six years ago. They have only been beaten in one of their last 15 home La Liga games, though they do draw a lot with four in the last six.
Celtic have it all to do here and their away form in European football isn't that spectacular. Only one of ther last 15 Europa League games has resulted in a Celtic victory. They've even lost four away games in the Scottish Premiership this season and struggle for goals with only three goals scored in their last five away games in this competition. The tip here is for Valencia to finish the job off and get a home win here.

Although both teams come after a victory, Leverkusen also showed his supremacy on the tour when he won 2-1, picking up the third success of all the direct meetings in the Bundesliga. It is clear that Fortuna will not give up easily, after 3-0 with Stuttgart also got the taste of the goal, but the hosts have good players on the counter, which can make the difference and finally to register at least twice, enough to take all the points

Both teams are in so good form. Hosts beat trabzon in a tight game benfica scored 10 goals these are all show us teams like play attacking. On the other hand both team want in their own league be champion so the main point is this game maybe an open game and both team can score.