On February 17, Marseille at the Velodrome stadium will host Qarabag in the first game of the 1/16 finals of the Conference League. “Bookmaker Ratings” believes that the hosts will justify the status of the favorite in this game.
Marseille have two competitions left this season. In the French championship, the southerners play with dignity, currently occupying second place with solid claims for a ticket to the Champions League.
At the same time, Jorge Sampaoli’s team has excellent statistics for home-arena games, where the hosts were not inferior to opponents in six matches in a row. Three wins and three draws. Marseille is approaching the upcoming game without personnel losses. Arkadiusz Milik played out (5 goals in 5 past matches), and in the last round of Ligue 1, the Provencals took three points on the Metz field (2:1).
For the first time this season, Qarabag will play against an opponent of this caliber. At the group stage of the League of Conferences, the representative of Azerbaijan took second place in the quartet, where Basel, Omonia and Kairat also played. In additiomn, the guests of the upcoming game played only three matches in 2022, two wins in the cup and one in the championship.
What to bet on in this game? We believe that the current form of Marseille will allow the southerners to solve all the issues of this confrontation at the Velodrome. Yet, the victory of the hosts is not worth much. Nevertheless, there are two options to consider in the handicaps: H1(-1) and H1(-1.5).
Obviously, in France, Qarabag will play with an eye on defense in order to avoid a major defeat and have at least minimal chances in the return game. Therefore, we will opt for a combined bet – W1 and Under (4.5). The Southerners have only surpassed the four-goal mark twice in their last 10 home-arena games, while, the visitors have played in this format in six of their previous seven away-from-home games.