Valencia vs Gent Betting Tips

It has been a mixed start to the group stage for Valencia. They were surprisingly beaten at home by Zenit in their opener but bounced back in style to win at Lyon and put themselves back in a strong position with 2 games against the supposed weakest side in the group commencing here.

Domestically at least, Valencia are very strong on home soil and were only beaten once at the Mestalla last season. Perhaps the defeat to Zenit could be put down to a bit of tension on their return to Europe’s premier club competition but they have improved since then and were impressive 3-0 winners at home to Malaga at the weekend and looked much more dangerous in the final third than they have been.

Gent are Champions League novices but entered in the group stage after winning the Belgian title last year. They’ve shown enough so far to suggest they’ll at least be competitive taking a point against Lyon, despite finishing with only 9 men prior to a 2-1 defeat in St Petersburg.

It is hard to see them really pushing for a top two finish though and a defeat here would leave them with a mountain to climb to make the last sixteen. They are yet to lose domestically this season but you can’t really judge their chances in this match by their league form given the comparative weakness of the Belgian Pro League.

Valencia have won 21 of their last 30 home games, losing just twice and with some of their big money signings just starting to find their feet they should have too much for Gent here and at 11/10 are decent value to win by 2 goals or more.

It’s unlikely to be a thrashing and Gent are by no means a bad side but they are probably just a bit short on class at this level. Valencia are looking to record a 4th consecutive home clean sheet in this match and at 6/1 they are worth backing to win 2-0.