THE Europa League returns on Thursday night as Bayer Leverkusen meet Monaco in the first leg of their knockout round match at the Bay Arena.
This will be the Bundesliga sides' first outing in Europe's secondary club competition this season after parachuting into the tournament as a consolation prize for their third place finish in Champions League Group B.
After being handed the reins at Bayer Leverkusen back in October, Xabi Alonso looks to have finally settled into his first job in senior management.
The Spaniard has steered his side to six victories across their last eight Bundesliga matches – the most of which was a 3-1 win at Hoffenheim – so they should be in a confident mood when they return to continental commitments against Monaco.
Philippe Clement's crop have been ticking along nicely themselves of late, with Saturday's 3-1 win over PSG extending their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to eight matches.
While it's unlikely this competition will be given priority ahead of league affairs, Bayer Leverkusen will have to be at their very best to eliminate the Red and Whites.
Outright Betting
Despite winning just once in six European outings this season so far, Bayer Leverkusen head into this first leg tie as 19/20 (Bet 365) favourites.
Monaco have done most of their best work at home in this season's Europa League and that is reflected in the odds, with the visitors 29/10 (UniBet) underdogs while the draw is an unfancied 11/4 (UniBet) with the same firm.
Betting Angles
With neither team appealing in the 1X2 market here, I'll instead side with goals and take the 10/11 (Bet 365) on this game featuring Over 2.75 strikes.
This selection would deliver a half-stakes profit should exactly three goals be scored, with a full winner paid-out if the game generates four or more goals.
While first leg knockout ties can have a tendency to be tight and cagey affairs, both sides are likely to try and play on the front foot here so there is potential that this game could produce plenty of goals and entertainment.
What's more, both managers have a string of talented attacking options at their disposal, not to mention both defences have been unreliable when it comes to being watertight at the back this season.
That as evidenced by the fact that the Bayer Leverkusen's backline was breached in four of their six Champions League group games, conceding multiple goals on three of those occasions.
As for Monaco, they failed to keep a clean sheet in five of their six Europa League pool fixtures, in a section that included lesser lights Ferencvaros, Red Star Belgrade and Trabzonspor.
It's also worth pointing out that three of the French sides' last four European assignments have featured a minimum of four match strikes, with two of those games breaking the Over 4.5 Goal barrier.
With that in mind as well as the fact that overs has copped in 26 of the pair's combined 43 league games domestically this season respectively, supporting a high-scoring contest here in the form of Over 2.75 goals stands out at 10/11 (Bet 365).
This UEFA Europa League match between Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco will be played on Feb 16, 2023 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Bayer Leverkusen vs Monaco prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
