St Etienne vs Basel Betting Tips

St Etienne won just two of their six Europa League group games, both against Ukrainian side, and 2014/15 runners-up, Dnipro. Their qualification was largely thanks to the fact that the lost just one game and other results went their way. The whole of the 2015/16 season has been characterised by inconsistency for ASSE. They’ve been in excellent form in domestic Ligue 1 football, winning three of their last four games, all away from home. At the weekend, they drew 1-1 at home against second place Monaco and they’re now in fourth place on 40 points, tied with Nice for the last Champions League space.

Swiss side FC Basel topped Group I, ahead of Italian giants Fiorentina, after winning four of their six games. They’re a balanced side, scoring 10 times and conceding just five in six games. They have a huge 15 points advantage in the Swiss Super League table and they’re clearly a dark horse to advance in this competition as well.

Head-to-Head

This is the first recorded meeting between these two clubs, according to SoccePunter.

Reason for Betting Tips

The French football league is beginning to orientate itself into a familiar looking table with Monaco, Lyon, St Etienne and Marseille working their way up the league standings. It is probably fair to expect that that improved form will also be reflected in the play of those teams in Europa League football. However, we still don’t quite fully trust St Etienne, their goal-scoring capabilities have been erratic all season long, they scored 10 times in qualifying, but they were held to tough 1-1 against Rosenborg and Lazio. They’re up against a tough opponent on Thursday night, we’ll back FC Basel to come away with some sort of result in this first leg.