★★★★★FC Basel★★★★★to score 5 goals or more@14/1 against CSKA Sofia

from ESPN match preview

Basle coach Thorsten Fink is likely to field a weakened team when his injury-ravaged squad play host to CSKA Sofia in the Europa League.

The Swiss team currently sit atop Group E, having won two of their three matches while Sofia lie bottom and know that a defeat would all but end their chances of progressing to the knockout stages.

Basle are also doing well domestically and are currently second in the league.

They have crunch games coming up as they welcome third-placed Xamax before travelling to leaders Young Boys and with several players carrying knocks, Fink could decide to rest them.

"I'll be looking ahead to Monday so I will not risk too much,'' said Fink. "Marco (Streller) for example would be possible to play on Thursday, but I must consider it very carefully.''

Streller is suffering from an adductor injury and Fink could decide to give him more time to recover properly as with Valentin Stocker, who has strained a muscle in his buttock, and David Abraham, who has an ankle injury.

Meanwhile, Antonio da Silva is definitely out after tearing ligaments in his left knee and he joins Carlitos and goalkeeper Franco Costanzo on the sidelines.

CSKA will be hoping to bring back the three points to Bulgaria after a miserable week at the capital club.

They suspended nine players on Monday after they hit the headlines for drinking and partying after their second consecutive defeat.

Marquinhos, David Silva, Pavel Vidanov and Todor Timonov had their suspensions removed yesterday.

However, Svetlio Petrov and Bulgaria internationals Kiril Kotev, Ivan Ivanov, Ivan Karadzhov and Yordan Todorov will not travel to Switzerland.

Yordan Minev is out injured.

"Each player must have self-consciousness and if they mislead someone, it is themselves,'' said coach Luboslav Penev. "I absolutely trust all the players and I want to receive the same from them, but that does not work.

"This is a team sport and everyone should respect ourselves first and then everyone else.

"In the match against Litex we did not do what we had trained, but just the opposite.

"If we go to war I need troops, not for them to stare me in the eye and lie to me.''


According to this article the Bulgarians will be without 3 of their regular back 4 + the goalkeeper tonight, leaving them short of numbers and experiences at the back. They have lost their last 2 domestic matches and literally stand no chance of progressing to the next round, so moral will be on the low side as well I suspect.

Basel are one of the few sides that's been taking this competition seriously this year, and 3 points tonight will give them a good chance of getting into the next round.

Wait for the team sheets if you want but if both Marco Streller & Alexander Frei are starting the match from the off, I can see the Swiss running riot and humiliate the Bulgarians tonight. However if that's the case, I'm sure there will be a few happy punters back in Bulgaria, judging by the prices of the over/under markets on this match.