Champions League action in Group A continues on Wednesday, with Swiss champions Basel heading to Russia in order to take on CSKA Moscow. Both teams sit on three points ahead of the encounter, with a win for either team providing a significant boost towards qualifying for the latter stages of the competition.
Champions League – VEB Arena, Moscow – Wednesday 18th October – 19:45 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 13/5 at Ladbrokes |
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CSKA Moscow
FC BaselMatch Preview
With just goal difference separating the two teams in the standings at present, the emphasis will be upon CSKA Moscow to take the game to Basel in front of their home fans. The Russian giants struggled against Manchester United last time around, while Basel produced one of their best ever European performances to demolish Benfica by five goals to nil. With little separating the two teams, let’s take a closer look at the duo, as well as some appealing betting markets surrounding the match.
CSKA Moscow Team News & Form
Having earned an excellent win in Portugal during the opening week of the competition, CSKA were brought back down to earth with a 4-1 defeat by Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United. Manager Viktor Goncharenko is under pressure to deliver at the VEB Arena, with CSKA having failed to find any form of consistency so far this season. Sitting fourth in the Russian top-flight standings, the emphasis is on the likes of Vitinho, Alan Dzagoev and igor Akinfeev to rise to the occasion on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, having scored a late consolation goal against United last time around, Konstantin Kuchaev will be looking to feature again for CSKA.
Basel Team News & Form
With a double header against CSKA coming up, manager Raphaël Wicky may well settle for a point in Russia this week, before playing in a more attacking way in front of their home fans. Young attacker Dimitri Oberlin has been one of Basel’s star performers so far this season, scoring twice last time out against Benfica. Elsewhere, Colombian defender Eder Balanta has impressed in the Basel back-line, while former Norwich City man Ricky van Wolfswinkel could well make it into the starting eleven. Basel come into the match off the back of a 4-0 victory away at Lugano, with the Swiss side having scored a whole host of goals already this season.
Head to Head
The two teams have not met in a competitive match for almost ten years, meaning that no clear conclusions can be taken from previous meetings.
Betting Odds and Predictions
There is little to choose between the two teams heading into the match, with many of the bookmakers having offered the duo similar odds in the build-up. Despite this, it is CSKA who are the favourites for victory, with best odds on the home side found at Ladbrokes, at 21/20. Meanwhile, for those looking to back the away side to claim all three points, Ladbrokes offer odds of 3/1, which is well worth considering given their performance in this competition last time around. Meanwhile, with both teams having been involved in high-scoring matches all season, betting on their being over 3.5 goals is another market to take advantage of.
Top Betting Tip
However, our top betting tip for the match is to bet on both teams to score, which is available at appealing odds of 3/4 at Ladbrokes.