FC Twente v Schalke Odds : McLaren’s side looking Europa League value
FC Twente will be looking to continue where they left off at the weekend when they host Schalke 04 in the first-leg of their last 16 Europa League tie this evening, as Ladbrokes make Steve McLaren’s side a touch of value at 6/5.
The former England manager’s men secured an excellent 6-2 victory at title rivals PSV Eindhoven, making it five victories in succession across all competitions. This means they are now just a point behind league leaders AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie table and well set for a tight title race in the remainder of the season.
Attention must be focused on Europa League matters this evening though as they aim to gain a first-leg advantage in front of their home fans. They will not want to leave themselves with too much to do in the second-leg, that’s for sure.
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Twente have won all four of their home games in this year’s competition though – including a 1-0 victory over Premier League Fulham – so they will be confident of getting the win tonight. Even domestically, they have only lost just once in the current campaign.
As for Schalke, they are on the back of two domestic defeats going into this one, so they need to raise their game for tonight’s game. Defeats to Bayern and bottom of the table Freiburg have left them 4th in Bundesliga, 11 points behind league leaders Borussia Dortmund.
They have only lost once in the Europa League this season though, so they will have genuine ambitions of going all the way in this year’s competition. They are more than capable of winning comfortably on the road too with 5-0 and 3-0 victories in away Europa League games this year.
A similar outcome this evening would leave them in a fantastic position to progress of course, but Twente are a good side and Schalke’s credentials in the Europa League will be tested to the maximum.
Overall, tonight’s fixture – which gets underway at 6pm – should be a very entertaining one. It may be cagey to begin with, but the first goal could unlock the attacking abilities of two very good teams.
