Previews

Last round of group games

Author: John Harris
Date: 17/12/2009
Football betting

Thursday sees the Europa League group stage wrapped up with injury-ravaged Everton surprising many by reaching the knockout stage with one game to spare.

David Moyes' men travelled to Greece last time out to face AEK Athens and his depleted and youthful outfit managed to claim a morale-boosting 1-0 victory with Diniyar Bilyaletdinov's early strike enough to settle matters.

With the Toffees' Premier League form out of the window, many expect him to rest what fit first-team stars he has ahead of the dead-rubber clash against BATE Borisov of Belarus at Goodison Park.

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Everton may well be excited at the prospect of meeting city rivals Liverpool, who are the online betting favourites to win the trophy after their Champions League humiliation.

Group winners Benfica face AEK Athens in Portugal.

Celtic have endured a torrid time on the continent this term and are already out of the competition and they end their campaign with a trip to face Austria Vienna, who are also eliminated.

Surprise package Hapoel Tel-Aviv and German giants Hamburg will meet in Israel and both are already into the next stage.

In Group A, Dutch powerhouse Ajax have cantered through to the knockout stages and they will be joined by Anderlecht or Dinamo Zagreb.

Zagreb must win their home game against group strugglers Timisoara and hope that Anderlecht lose out to Ajax at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Valencia, Lille and Genoa all have the chance to progress in a group that sits on a knife-edge.

The Spanish side top the group by two points ahead of their rivals but they face a tough trip to face Genoa in Italy.

A defeat there and a win for Lille, who play Slavia Prague on home soil, would bring about a bitter end to their adventure.

Group G has already been determined with the relentless Red Bull Salzburg winning all five of their games to date already through alongside Villarreal.

Italian giants Lazio have failed to win through with Bulgarian side Levski Sofia.

In Group H, Fenerbahce of Turkey will go through as group winners and will be joined by either FC Twente, managed by former England manager Steve McClaren, or Sheriff Tiraspol from Moldova.

The two face tough away day tests, with Twente venturing to Steaua Bucharest and Sheriff go to Fenerbahce.

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