Chelsea and Tottenham huge hopes to reach Europa League last four
Published:With English representation prominent at the quarter-final stage of this year’s Europa League, there looks a great chance that Premier League teams could account for at least half of the competition semi-finalists.
This is in light of the highly favourable draws that Chelsea and Tottenham in particular have received, whilst Newcastle are likely to face a much tougher task in qualifying for the last four.
Reigning champions of Europe’s elite competition, the Champions League, Chelsea this year have to settle for a tilt at this tournament, and will meet Rubin Kazan in the hope of securing a semi-final berth.
And the Blues will hold no fears against their Russian counterparts, who needed extra-time to get past Spanish minnows Levante in their last European outing. Chelsea are 12/5 favourites to win the Europa League.
For Tottenham, Swiss outfit FC Basel stand in their way of a spot in the final four.
In what is a plum tie for Spurs, they meet a side that failed to top their group en route to this stage of the tournament, and one that is without victory on the road in Europe all season.
Such statistics certainly bode well for White Hart Lane chief Andre Villas-Boas, who takes this competition very seriously after winning it with Porto back in 2011. It is 11/4 that Spurs win the Europa League.
On to Newcastle, whose last-eight clashes with Benfica represent extremely difficult assignments.
Champions League drop-outs, the Eagles have won all of their four games since entering this competition, and have kept clean sheets in half of those appearances.
They could have too much for a Toon side that have scored only two more tournament goals than them, despite participating in six extra fixtures. Newcastle are 12/1.
Elsewhere, the other-quarter-final sees Fenerbahce take on Lazio over two legs, in what should be a cracking affair.
Lazio are the top-scoring side remaining in the competition, and in the 18-time Turkish champions, meet a team that have been much more comfortable on their travels than at home in Europe this season.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
