Soccer Odds | Top European Matches | Is Manchester United ready for a rebuild? Sir Jim Ratcliffe invested in the venerable English Premier League club, picking up 27.7% percent of ownership.
Star player Cristiano Ronaldo, who had his own difficult exit from the team, has responded that the team has to “rebuild from the bottom up.”
Ronaldo has moved on to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, in the wake-up an interview with Piers Morgan in which Ronaldo dragged the club for its failure to invest over the last decade and a half.
In 346 matches across two different stints with Man U, Ronaldo scored 145 goals. So far, under the leadership of Ruud van Nistelrooy as an assistant coach under Erik ten Hag, the team are just 1-2 in EPL play.
We have sports betting previews for some key matches from European first-division soccer, including Sunday’s London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.
Soccer Odds & Betting Analysis: Top European Matches for the Weekend
English Premier League
Manchester City -500 vs Brentford +1200
When: Saturday, September 14, 10:00 am ET
Soccer Pick: Draw +650
City have started the 2024-25 EPL campaign on a roll, shutting out Chelsea, 2-0, and then rolling over Ipswich, 4-1 and taking a 3-1 result at West Ham. Striker Erling Haaland is already dominating opponents with a hat trick in each of those last two victories. City will not have Nathan Ake as he went down with an injury during the 2-2 draw between the Netherlands and Germany on Tuesday. Savinho and Phil Foden had withdrawn from international play because of injury and illness. Oscar Bobb (broken leg) is still on the shelf. Rodri is set to come back for his season debut. He started in Spain’s Nations League match with Switzerland on Sunday and figured in the 4-1 win.
Brentford are also impressive thus far, with two wins in their first three matches. The Bees started EPL play with a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace. They went to Liverpool and were dealt a 2-0 lesson before coming back to beat Southampton at home, 3-1. Kristoffer Ajer is questionable (foot), while Aaron Hickey, Igor Thiago, Rico Henry and Joshua Dasilva are all still on the shelf. While Brentford have started out the season strong, it’s hard to argue that they are ready to pick up a point at the Etihad.
Premier League Pick: City to win.
^Tottenham Hotspur +190 vs Arsenal +125
When: Sunday, September 15, 9:00 am ET
Soccer Pick: Draw +260
Arsenal will likely have to play without Declan Rice, Riccardo Calafiori and captain Martin Odegaard. Rice drew an iffy red card last week against Brighton, and the other two took injuries with their national teams during the international break. Transfer window signee Mikel Merino suffered an injury during his first team training session and is not available after fracturing a shoulder in a collision with center-back Gabriel Magalhaes. Arsenal have two wins and a draw so far, most recently ending up 1-1 with Brighton. Their biggest win came at Aston Villa in 2-0 fashion.
Tottenham has not beaten Arsenal since May 2022 and are off to a slow start, with just one in the first three matches. They drew with Leicester City in their opener and then thumped a so-far dreadful Everton side. They lost to Newcastle in their last EPL match thanks to a late stunner from Alexander Isak. Their main summer transfer window signings, Richarlison and Dominic Solanke, both went down with injuries in August. Richarlison is unavailable, while Solanke is questionable for Sunday. The Spurs lead the EPL in possession time per match (68.5%), but they’ve been dithering instead of generating promising chances and putting the ball in the net.
Premier League Pick: Take the draw.
^Tomas Rosicky's north London derby stunner 💥
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 12, 2024
Which current @Arsenal player is most likely to produce a strike like this on Sunday? pic.twitter.com/oNrsKQSazE
Soccer Odds Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund -267 vs Heidenheim +600
When: Friday, September 13, 2:30 pm ET
Soccer Pick: Draw +425
Don’t look now, but Heidenheim are off to a smashing start to the 2024-25 Bundesliga schedule. They have won their first two matches by a combined 6-0 score and, at least for now, are on top of the German first division table. They routed Augsburg in their last match, 4-0 despite possessing for just 36% of the match. Furthermore, they were able to generate four glorious chances (and score on all of them) without allowing any similar chances themselves. They have also made it to a European competition for the first time, qualifying for the Europa Conference League. They have an 11-match winning streak across all competitions and including friendlies, and they have four wins and two draws in their last six Bundesliga matches. Likewise, they are also unbeaten in five straight road Bundesliga matches.
Dortmund drew 0-0 with Werder Bremen and have four points out of two matchweeks. In that match, defender Nico Schlotterbeck was sent off in the 73rd minute, but Dortmund’s defense held, permitting just one shot after the side went down to ten players. Now manager Nuri Sahin is working to make Dortmund more of an offensive forward approach. They have won their last three home Bundesliga matches by a combined 11-1 score.
Bundesliga Pick: Take the draw.
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