Thursday UEFA Cup

Another result for Tom Allen as FC Copenhagen stroll to a 4-2 victory away at Lillestrom.

Aston Villa and Manchester City play for places in the first round proper of the Uefa Cup on Thursday evening but there are plenty of other games being staged across the continent and one bet stands out a mile.

Just two seasons ago FC Copenhagen were beating Manchester United and Celtic in the group stages of the Champions League and while the playing staff has changed a fair bit since then they still remain a side to be reckoned with.

The Danish Superliga is a strong one compared to the other top flights in Scandinavia and it is a Norwegian side that the Danes take on tonight. Lillestrom are certainly no great shakes and, having suffered a 3-1 defeat in the first leg a fortnight ago, can be excused for already thinking their stay in this season’s Uefa Cup is going to be a short one.

We saw for ourselves just how much trouble Midtjylland caused Manchester City at Eastlands, when winning 1-0 in their respective first leg, but they were outclassed by FC Copenhagen in their latest Superliga match. A 3-1 win for the side from the capital hauled them up into second place domestically, they remain unbeaten, and I only see them causing Lillestrom more pain in Thursday’s return leg.

While the Superliga has only just got underway the Norwegian Tippeligean has been in full swing for quite some time and Lillestrom have been struggling, badly. Just two sides lie below them in the standings after 18 matches and only five wins all term so far is a poor return. They were battered for 90 minutes at the Parken Stadium and only grabbed a consolation in injury time.

While the bigger clubs across Europe might be able to rest a few stars having established a healthy lead in a tie FC Copenhagen cannot afford such a luxury, due to their relatively small squad, and are in no position to take their foot off the pedal. They thrashed Cliftonville 7-0 having already drubbed the Irish side 4-0 in the first half of the tie in the previous round.

A mixture of newly emerging internationals, Morten Nortstrand is a goal scoring midfielder to keep an eye on, and flamboyant Brazilians makes them difficult to beat wherever they go and they’ve been playing well for quite some time now. An excellent 2-0 win over current Uefa Cup holders Zenit in pre-season would have boosted confidence and coach Stale Solbakken has extra incentive to ensure his side don’t slip up on Thursday.

Norwegian Solbakken made nearly 100 appearances for Lillestrom in the mid-90’s, scoring an impressive 34 goals in that time, and is sure to have plenty of inside knowledge about what the task in hand entails. The gulf is class is sizeable and the price of 2.50 about an away win shouldn’t be ignored. It’s the bet of the season so far.