OSC Lille

vs

FK Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda)

Preview

Lille (home)

• Lille are 5th in Ligue 1 on 34 points from 22 matches, the top of the stable portion of the table, but not really in the championship race.
• In truth, a similar result would not be a disaster for Les Dogues, who have a 1-0 home advantage after beating Freiburg by that score in the Europa League.
• Lille have been less consistent domestically since Génésio took over, although their Europa League results have been solid.

Red Star (away)

• Red Star are 2nd in the Serbian SuperLiga with 45 points from 20 matches, well placed to challenge for the title.
• Red Star are in great form with the goal-scoring prowess of Marko Arnautović to trouble defenders and keep the ball in the final third.
• Bruno Duarte, Aleksandar Katai and Mirko Ivanić have all shown their quality in recent games in which the Belgrade giants have notched up four or more goals, while their defence has also performed well with Matheus trusted to start all their UEFA games.

Head-to-Head

Lille

• But, in contrast to Lille’s attack, which revolves around the ageing Olivier Giroud and with Jonathan David absent from the UEFA squad, Red Star’s attacking play is varied and deep.
• Hákon Arnar Haraldsson is the lynchpin of their attack, as much at home in Ligue 1 as he was in Europe during the group stages, when he would come on to drive transitions.
• The pace of Félix Correia and Matías Fernández-Pardo on the flanks allows Génésio to overload the wide areas and create chaos in the central area.

Red Star

• Red Star are in great form with the goal-scoring prowess of Marko Arnautović to trouble defenders and keep the ball in the final third.
• Bruno Duarte, Aleksandar Katai and Mirko Ivanić have all shown their quality in recent games in which the Belgrade giants have notched up four or more goals, while their defence has also performed well with Matheus trusted to start all their UEFA games.

Betting Insights

• Lille are slight favorites to win Thursday’s Europa League knockout playoff first leg at 1.7, but Red Star are 4.6 and the draw 3.8.
• Therefore, this should be a close first leg and the BTTS market looks the best angle to take.
• But with the quality of attacking players on both sides, we are inclined to take BTTS at even money rather than side with the hosts at 1.7 or the visitors at 4.6.

Prediction