the champions league group phase continues in earnest with all 32 teams in action on tuesday and wednesday and here we focus on the eight tuesday games, offering tips, odds, analysis and predictions for each. there are no mega-ties on tuesday but with games like porto v chelsea, barcelona v bayer leverkusen and arsenal v olympiakos, there are plenty of top class players on show and some fascinating contests in store. predicting the winner of bayern munich v dinamo zagreb may well be easy enough but we’ll start off with the biggest game, and one that is sure to be far more evenly balanced.
chelsea travel to porto knowing that a win would really put them in the driving seat in group g and give them a brilliant chance of topping the group and avoiding the big guns in the next round. jose mourinho won the champions league with porto and would love to repeat the feat at chelsea and his current side are priced at best odds of 17/10 with sportingbet to take all three points here. the home side are priced at odds of 9/5 and the draw is 23/10 with paddy power in a match the odds makers view as being very even.
the blues have started the season poorly but a win against arsenal will have boosted their hopes and they should have enough to take all three points here, despite porto’s decent pedigree and fine home record. they got a solid 2-2 draw in their first game away at dynamo kiev but the step up in class will be tough for them and our tip is the away win in a game we predict will end 2-1 to chelsea.
the other english side in champions league action on tuesday is arsenal , who host olympiakos in a game the bookmakers expect them to win. the gunners are big odds-on favourites at just 17/40 (sportingbet) whilst you can back the greek side at 8/1 with paddy power and the draw is available at best betting odds of 4/1 with either of those firms.
olympiakos lost 3-0 at home to bayern, whilst arsene wenger’s men surprisingly lost 2-1 at dinamo zagreb. based on those results and the indifferent start arsenal have made this term there could be some value in backing the draw but on balance we think the home side will get the job done. it could be closer than the bookies think though and we predict the best value bet here is to back arsenal to win and both teams to score, priced at 21/10 with betvictor.
in group e we have a crucial game between the top two sides, with bayer leverkusen currently topping what could prove to be one of the trickiest groups. the germans travel to barcelona and given the catalans drew their opener away at roma they know they must win here. they are priced at odds of just 4/15 with sportingbet which is worth adding to your accas but in terms of this match alone, our betting tip is a little juicier.
barca have a 100% record in la liga at the time of writing and whilst their attack has been hit and miss at times we feel they can out leverkusen to the sword here. the germans have been struggling domestically so back barca to win by three or more at 13/8 at sky bet.
the other big champions league contenders in action on tuesday are bayern munich, who play dinamo zagreb, as said, looking to build on their 3-0 win over olympiakos in their first group f contest. pep guardiola’s men are priced at odds of just 1/9, whilst those backing an away upset can get huge betting odds of 33/1 with coral! we don’t see any upsets though, so back the champions league second favourites to carry on their impressive home form and win by 4-0 at nice odds of 8/1 with betvictor.
one side that will hope to possibly slip under the radar and mount a champions league challenge of their own is roma, who earned a solid point against barca in their opener. they now have the altogether easier task of beating bate borisov, albeit playing away in belarus. the italians can be backed at best betting odds of 7/10 but we think the belarusians may just about have enough to nick a draw and our prediction here is 1-1, with the stalemate our betting tip at odds of 14/5 with paddy power.
another well-matched game on champions league tuesday sees lyon host valencia and the closeness of this one is evident in the odds, with the home side available at 8/5 with bet365 whilst the visitors are 19/10 and the draw, a distinct possibility, is 23/10 with sportingbet. valencia lost their opener 3-2 at home to zenit but we predict a low scoring clash here, with under 2.5 goals solid value at odds of 4/5 with betvictor.
maccabi tel aviv versus dynamo kiev is not the most glamorous tie of the night but it could be crucial for the visitors, who simply have to win if they are to challenge for second place in the group. they are priced at 23/20 with sky bet to get the three points and against a maccabi side who are short on class at this level, that looks decent value so snap it up.
our final champions league betting tip is for the game between zenit saint petersburg and belgian side gent. gent will struggle in a tough group and with zenit having won at valencia it’s hard to see anything other than a home win here. sky offer 1/2 on that outcome and whilst that’s short it’s not a bad bet, but we predict an easy home win, so up your odds by backing zenit/zenit in the half time/full time betting at odds of 6/5 with the same bookmaker.