On-Fire Wolfsburg Set To Hinder Everton Progression

A meagre point against second-placed Wolfsburg would be enough for Europa League Group H table toppers Everton to qualify for the competition`s knockout stages tonight (27th November). Roberto Martinez`s Merseysiders have managed to balance their Europe exploits with their Premier League form, earning eight points from their four games in Europe whilst remaining unbeaten in their last five in the top tier of English football.

Their German hosts have been similarly successful, sitting in second place in Group H with seven points and in second position in the Bundesliga having won all of their last five games at home.

This fine vein of home form has seen Dieter Hecking`s men installed as the 4/5 (Bwin) favourites for tonight`s clash. This is in spite of Everton`s 4-1 victory over their opponents in the teams` September fixture at Goodison Park. Goals from Seamus Coleman and Kevin Mirallas were supplemented by a successfully converted Leighton Baines penalty, though the opener came when Wolfsburg`s Ricardo Rodriguez slotted past his own keeper. Rodriguez hit an admirable free-kick in the 90th minute to pull one back for the visitors.

A Toffees win tonight can be picked up at 17/4 with both Betvictor and boylesports with a draw available at 3/1 with most bookmakers.

Martinez`s men followed up their comprehensive thrashing of the Volkswagen Arena outfit with two draws. The first was a 1-1 tie away at FK Krasnodar with Samuel Eto`o equalising in the final minutes, whilst their first fixture away at Lille remained goalless.

Despite proving to be a worthy opposition in their first match-up, Michel Seydoux`s Frenchmen succumbed in the reverse fixture in Liverpool. Everton slotted three past the Ligue One title hopefuls without reply and further secured their grip at the top of the Group H table. Both Leon Osman and Phil Jagielka netted in the first 45 as Steven Naismith also found his name on the scoresheet.

Wolfsburg were also held to a draw against Lille following the German club`s defeat at the hands of Everton in their opening clash of the campaign. Hecking`s men had to come from behind after Divock Origi opened the scoring with a penalty in the second half, with Kevin De Bruyne hitting the equaliser eight minutes from time.

Former Chelsea star De Bruyne grabbed a brace as his team saw off Krasnodar, recording a 4-2 victory away from home in the sides` first meeting. Luis Gustavo was the only other Wolfsburg player to hit the back of the net as their account was opened by a Andreas Granqvist own goal.

Six goals were also scored as the two teams met again a fortnight later. This time Krasnodar fell to a 5-1 hammering, despite the score being goalless at half time. Aaron Hunt broke the deadlock two minutes after the half time whistle before completing a brace ten minutes later. Wanderson`s effort reduced the deficit with just over 15 minutes to go until Josuha Guilavogui hit his first of the campaign and Nikolas Bendtner hit two past Andriy Dikan between the Russian side`s sticks.

Having scored braces in their previous encounters, Bentner, Hunt and De Bruyne are 12/1 (ladbrokes), 13/1 (boylesports, unibet) and 20/1 (bet365) respectively to hit at least two past their English visitors tonight.

As well as being ruthless in front of goal in the Europa League, tonight`s home side have scored 12 times in their last five Bundesliga home matches, only conceding twice. As a result they can be backed at 28/17 with Betbright to keep another clean sheet and are available at 21/10 (boylesports, Coral, sportingbet, william hill) to hit over 2.5 goals past Tim Howard.

Everton fans will be buoyed by the news that Arouna Kone, who has been sidelined for over a year after sustaining a serious knee injury, is back in the squad. Lille scorer Naismith is, however, unavailable after picking up a hamstring problem.

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27/11/2014     © Frixo 2024