Wednesday’s football tips: Celtic corners the path to profits as Kairat park the Parkhead bus

It's another big night in Champions League qualifying and Celtic will be out to ease the nerves in the first leg of their play-off with Kairat.

Some Hoops fans fear that the club's failure to spend big this summer will cost them a £40million ticket to the league phase of Europe's top tournament.

The second leg of this tie is fraught with danger as it involves a 7000-mile round trip to Kazakhstan. So Brendan Rodgers' side will be looking to build a healthy lead at Parkhead tonight to give them a bit of wriggle room.

Celtic vs Kairat top betting tips

Kairat face the same exhausting journey for tonight's first leg and the Kazakhs have been written off, with BoyleSports making them 22/1 rank outsiders for a win tonight.

Kazahk teams don't have a great record at Celtic Park, with Astana losing there twice and Shakhter Karagandy also blowing a 2-0 first-leg lead when they slumped to a 3-0 defeat.

Rodgers presided over both wins over Astana and the Hoops dished out a 5-0 thrashing in Glasgow back in 2017. A repeat of that score would go down well tonight but Celtic's forwards haven't been firing on all cylinders so far this season.

I can see them winning by a smaller margin so a Celtic win with under 3.5 goals appeals at 23/20 with BoyleSports.

Kairat are likely to park the bus and that could see the corner count rack up for the Hoops. Backing over 2.5 Celtic corners in each half pays a decent 20/23 at BoyleSports while Celtic -5.5 in the handicap pays 11/8.

Fenerbache vs Benfica

The pick of the Champions League play-off ties sees Fenerbahce take on Benfica in a clash of a titans.

Jose Mourinho is desperate to get back to Europe's top table and his Fenerbahce side claimed a notable scalp in the last round by beating Feyenoord.

The draw hasn't been kind to the Turks though and they now face a Benfica side who reached the group stage for the last 15 seasons.

A rousing 5-2 Istanbul win helped floor Feyenoord and the atmosphere should be incredible tonight in Turkey.

Benfica eased past Nice in the last round and have won all four games without conceding a goal this term.

So it's a tricky one to call and the half-time draw looks a decent option at 6/5 with BoyleSports.

This one could be fiery and I like the 11/8 on offer at Bet365 for the Turks to pick up most cards. Benfica veteran Nicolas Otamendi is also a tempting 2/1 to go into the book.

Basel vs FC Copenhagen

FC Copenhagen have made a flying start to the new season and will be hoping tonight's clash with Basel in Switzerland is their launchpad to Champions League riches.

The Danes crushed Malmo 5-0 on aggregate in the last round and sit top of their domestic table after winning four of their first five games.

Basel's early-season form isn't as good, losing two of their first four in the Swiss league, but they did smash six past Biel-Bienne in the cup at the weekend.

BTTS and over 2.5 goals have landed in all five games for Basel so far and Copenhagen possess plenty of quality in attack. So I'm going to combine both those bets tonight at a decent 7/5 with BoyleSports.

Three of Basel's four league games have hit double figures for corners so over 10.5 flag kicks also stands a chance tonight at 13/10.

Wednesday's Super Singles

• Celtic -5.5 corner handicap 11/8 BoyleSports
• Nicolas Otamendi to be carded 2/1 Bet365
• BTTS and over 2.5 goals in Basel v Copenhagen 21/20 BoyleSports

Upcoming match previews and betting tips

• Wed 20:00 Celtic v Kairat
• Wed 20:00 Basel v FC Copenhagen
• Wed 20:00 Fenerbahce v Benfica
• Wed 20:00 Bodo/Glimt v Sturm Graz
• Midweek Goals Accumulator Tips: Hibees to bring home 3/1 Acca
• Non-League Betting Tips: Roots Hall to provide the goals

Racing tips

The Ebor festival gets underway in York today and Rizzel has picked out some horses to watch.

• Wednesday’s Racing Tips – Day one of the York Ebor Festival

As always, post your own comments and tips below

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