AJAX were seconds away from securing a place in last season's Champions League final but that didn't prevent them from having to navigate their way through two qualifying rounds to make the group stages of this year's competition.
They survived a real scare against Greek side PAOK, winning 5-4 on aggregate after a 2-2 away draw and a 3-2 home win secured by an 85th-minute Dušan Tadić penalty. And they've been rewarded with a group that they should be able to get out of which includes Chelsea, Valencia and Tuesday's opponents Lille.
Christophe Galtier‘s side find themselves fifth in Ligue 1, with three win from five. Two defeats have come away from home and you have to go back to the end of March to find their last victory on the road. They qualified for the group stages as a result of their second placed finish in Ligue 1, which came just 12 months after narrowly avoiding relegation with a win on the final day of the 2017-18 season.
LOSC's lack any real experience at this level. This is their first apperance in the group stage of the competition since 2012-13 and their most recent European adventure lasted only one tie, Gabala of Azerbaijan running out 2-1 aggregate winners in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round in 2016-17.
Ajax on the other hand will be aiming to emulate last season's unexpected success despite several stars of that campaign departing for pastures new. The Dutch champions sailed through the group stages last season with three wins and three draws, two of which were against group winners Bayern Munich.
Tadic was Joint top scorer in the 2018/19 Eredivisie and has scored 5 already this season.
In-form Ajax are undefeated in all competitions so far this season (W7 D3) and should be too good for Lille at home and for acca-backers the 1/2 on the home win will be acceptable, but for more value let's look to Ajax to win and ther to be two or more goals in the match which can be backed in a Bet365 Bet Builder at 4/5.
Dušan Tadić will be the dangerman for the home side. He's scored five in five league games so far this season, and has eight in all competitions with a further five assists. At the time of writing he's 7/2 with BetVictor to open the scoring but not many bookies have priced up the market yet so you may get bigger if you shop around. If you can get 4/1 or more back him each way, meaning you'll get your money back if he scores the second or third goal instead of the first.
This UEFA Champions League match between Ajax and Lille will be played on Sep 17, 2019 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Ajax vs Lille prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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