Southampton v Hapoel Be’er Sheva: Winner takes all in Group K
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It’s not been the easiest of Europa League groups for Southampton to progress from. But they can do just that tonight as they welcome Israeli outfit Hapoel Be’er Sheva to St. Mary’s in a straight shootout for second-place.
The pair drew 0-0 back in September in the reverse fixture, meaning that either an away win or a score draw would see the visitors through.
It’s 5/1 for both teams to find the net and share the points, while 9/1 is on offer for a stalemate.
However, should we see a repeat of that scoreline, it would be the Saints who would progress to the knockout stages, thanks to their overall goal difference. Yep, confusing.
It’s Claude Puel’s men who head into this fixture as the 4/9 favourites, while the reigning Israeli Premier League champions are 7/1 outsiders to take all three points. And perhaps that’s because Barak Bakhar’s side have won just one of their last seven on the road in this competition.
It’s unlikely Puel will field a weakened team tonight, given the importance of the fixture. And for that reason, we can expect to see the likes of Charlie Austin and Virgil van Dijk starting.
The former has already netted twice in four outings in Europe, and 10/11 says he does the same again tonight, while it’s 3/1 for him to open the scoring.
And Van Dijk found the net himself the last time the Saints played on home soil in this competition. It’s 5/1 for him to make it two goals in as many home Europa League games.
However, the visitors head into this one off the back of six victories on the bounce in all competitions, netting a staggering 22 goals in the process, so finding the net won’t be a problem for Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
That means the best value could lie in our headline offer, which is Southampton to win and both teams to score at 10/3.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
