Soccer Football - Premier League - Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton & Hove Albion - Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, Britain - August 19, 2023 Brighton & Hove Albion's Solly March celebrates scoring their third goal with Julio Enciso and teammates Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers Betting Tips
In the UEFA Europa League group stage, Brighton & Hove Albion will welcome Ajax at the Amex Stadium on Thursday. Both teams’ European campaigns have gotten off to a losing start. The visitors drew their opening two games of the season, and Brighton has only managed one point from its two games. With no wins in their last eight games in all competitions, Ajax is going through a terrible time.
Brighton vs Ajax
Brighton drew 2-2 with Marseille in their previous match after losing narrowly 3-2 at home to AEK Athens in their season opener. After taking a two-goal lead in the first half with goals from Chancel Mbemba and Jordan Veretout in the space of two minutes, goals from Pascal Groß and João Pedro in the second half cancelled each other out.
In their home opener against Marseille, the visitors played to a 3-3 draw, while their previous encounter ended in a 1-1 draw with AEK Athens. In the second half, Domagoj Vida canceled out Steven Bergwijn’s penalty goal.
The visitors lost 4-3 to Utrecht in the Eredivisie on Sunday, while the hosts lost 2-1 to Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday.
This season, Brighton has a respectable winning record at home. The fact that this will be the first time either club has played the other is significant. August was the last time Ajax triumphed away from home.
After two games, the Seagulls have only managed one point, whereas Ajax has two. With three rounds of games remaining after Thursday’s match, the Premier League team doesn’t quite need to win this one, but losing would severely hurt their chances of making it to the knockout stages.
Verdict
Following a 4:3 loss to Utrecht the previous weekend, head coach Maurice Steijn was understandably fired. The team had lost their last eight games in all competitions. Amazingly, after seven league games this season, Ajax has only managed five points.
But if the Dutch are in awful shape, Brighton’s excellent form from the start of the season has also declined recently. After losing 3:1 at Man City the previous time out, the Albion have now lost five straight games.
Both sides are still winless in Group A of the Europa League. After consecutive draws with Marseille (3:3) and AEK (1:1), Ajax has gained two points. Brighton’s home loss to AEK (2:3) and their subsequent 2:2 draw with Marseille in France have left them with just one point.
We may anticipate a high-scoring match on Thursday, given the recent performances and outcomes of both sides. In nine of their previous 11 home games, Brighton has seen over 2.5 goals scored in addition to BTTS. In a similar vein, Ajax has experienced BTTS in five of their last six away games and has had the same two outcomes in four of their previous six games overall.
Brighton is probably the favorite to win because they have a home advantage, but on Thursday, I’m going to go for goals with BTTS and over 3.5 goals as more plausible scenarios.
Tip: Over 3.5 Goals / BTTS (YES)
Over 3.5 Goals – ❌
BTTS – ❌
Bet Here > Bet9ja
Below are our top betting fixtures for Thursday:
1X2 Market
- TSC v Freiburg ✅
- Marseille v AEK Bet9ja, Paripesa, 1xBet, Melbet✅
- Sturm v Atalanta Bet9ja, Paripesa, 1xBet, Melbet❌
BTTS
- Brighton v Ajax Bet9ja, Paripesa, 1xBet, Melbet❌
- Aris v Betis Bet9ja, Paripesa, 1xBet, Melbet❌
- Sparta Praha v Rangers❌
Over 2.5 goals
- Roma v Slavia PrahaBet9ja, Paripesa, 1xBet, Melbet❌
- Sheriff v Servette❌
- Molde v Hacken Bet9ja, Paripesa, 1xBet, Melbet✅
Football Lover. All-round junkie of the beautiful game. Could be found watching football most of the time. If not he’s writing about them or making some punditry you don’t agree with. A certain bias for Arsenal and Santos FC.
