BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION have left themselves with a mountain to climb when they reconvene with Roma at the Amex in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Roberto de Zerbi’s side suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat in Rome last week, on an evening where my solitary Stadio Olimpico selection landed.
As such, the Seagulls face an extremely tall order if they are to extend their maiden campaign in Europe by clinching what would be a highly-unlikely quarter-final berth.
Brighton did rebound at the first of asking by edging out Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the Premier League on Sunday, but they will need to pull off a minor miracle to avoid crashing out of the Europa League this midweek.
As for Roma, they continued their upward curve under new boss Daniele De Rossi’s by salvaging a late point by drawing 2-2 away at Fiorentina on Sunday night.
With one foot already in the last-eight, the Italian giants have been clipped into 12/1 (UniBet) fourth favourites to go all the way and lift the trophy.
Outright Betting
Despite last week’s 4-0 reverse in Rome, Brighton are odds-on 9/10 favourites on Betfred.
Roma are 14/5 (William Hill) outsiders to do the double over Brighton while an all square second leg on the south coast can be backed at 3/1 (Betfred).
Betting Angles
With the onus on Brighton to attack from the off on Thursday night, I’m prepared to back the home team to hit over five corners at 4/5 on Bet 365.
Roberto de Zerbi’s side are attack-minded in every game they go into so they won't think twice about throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at this in search of pulling off a remarkable rescue job.
In doing so, the Seagulls should rack up a few corners in the process, something they have proven to be particularly prominent at doing in the Premier League this season.
Albion are averaging 5.57 flag kicks per 90 in the English top-flight this term, a tally that increases to a whopping 7.42 when operating at their Amex headquarters.
It’s also worth pointing out that Brighton did manage to hit exactly six corners in Rome last Thursday night, despite being on the wrong end of a 4-0 reverse.
With all that in mind, coupled with the state of play in this tie, backing Brighton to cover the 6+ corner line merits consideration at 4/5 on Bet 365.
On a similar line of reasoning to the above, I'm also going to chance a fun long shot by siding with the Seagulls to earn over one corner during the first 10 minutes of this second leg at 13/2 on Bet 365.
Roberto de Zerbi’s charges should come flying out of the traps here so they could be worthy of of some loose to change to clock up a couple of early corners during the early exchanges of this contest.
This UEFA Europa League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Roma will be played on Mar 14, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Brighton & Hove Albion vs Roma prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
