Bayer Leverkusen v AS Monaco Betting Tips

This Group E match is a dead rubber as we already know AS Monaco will top the group whilst Bayer Leverkusen will have to settle for second place.

Although they have already qualified for the knockout rounds, Bayer will feel they have got rather lucky after drawing four games out of five. Fortunately for them that fifth match was a win against former qualification rivals Tottenham Hotspur. They will certainly need to improve if they want to have any chance of progressing from the last-16 in the new year.

Things have also been faltering a bit domestically with Roger Schmidt’s side currently 9th in the German Bundesliga. Of course with newly-promoted Red Bull Leipzig top of the division after 13 matches, this season has been unpredictable, but nobody expected Leverkusen to be so low.

Furthermore, if they continue their current form, they will only drop further down the table as Bayer have not won a league match in their last three attempts.

Defence has certainly been the problem for Schmidt’s men this season with their record of 21 league goals conceded and no clean sheet in five matches hardly helping the cause.

Confidence for this match could be at quite a low with just one win in their last four Bundesliga matches at the BayArena – ridiculous when you consider they won six home league matches on the spin not so long ago. Additionally, it is certainly worth mentioning that even in the first Champions League Group Stage match of the season, Leverkusen could only draw 2-2 at home to CSKA Moscow (the worst team in Group E) despite being 2-0 up.

The reverse is happening in Monaco at the moment with the French side currently second in Ligue 1 with the best goal difference in the league and just three points off surprise leaders OCG Nice. Leonardo Jardim’s team were not expected to make any waves in Group E and were seen as the team most likely to finish up in the Europa League spots. However, they have done exceptionally well and have guaranteed themselves a seeded place in the next round.

As shown by their excellent goal difference of +33, Monaco have been good going forward this season – particularly South American duo Guido Carrillo and Radamel Falcao who both have seven goals in Ligue 1. This has been transferred into their European escapades with Monaco scoring nine – just three fewer than the other three teams in Group E put together. This sort of goal-scoring form against a leaky Leverkusen defence could be very telling on Wednesday night.

Having said that, away form has been a bit troubling for the former Champions League finalists with just one win in their last five matches in all competitions and three of those being 1-1 draws.

With so little riding on this match, it would not surprise me if we see a few changes made and, given Monaco’s habit of drawing away, I think we could see an uninspiring stalemate which you can get at a decent price of 29/10.

As previously mentioned, Monaco draw a lot away from home and in fact, out of the five draws the French side have had this season, four of them have been 1-1. Additionally, two of Bayer Leverkusen’s last three matches have ended 1-1 and if we take into account that the reverse fixture between these two sides ended one each back in September, 1-1 seems likely here. The odds on that are a very well-priced 7-1 – excellent odds given the way the statistics are pointing.

If you fancy something a bit safer then go with ‘Draw – Monaco Win No Bet’ at 7/4. I do think this will be a draw but if either side is more likely to win, it will be in-form Monaco so you can make sure that does not mess up your bet by taking this insurance option.

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