UEFA CUP BETTING PICK - NANCY V WISLA KRAKOW

UEFA Cup

2006-11-02 - Nancy vs Wisla Krakow

A Sports Betting Pick by Romerz

2000hr (local time), 2-Nov-06, Marcel Picot

This match comes from Group E comprising of Blackburn (Eng), Basel (Swi), Feyenoord (Ned), Nancy & Wisla Krakow. Nancy sat out on matchday 1 whilst Wisla lost to Blackburn 1-2 at home and Basel drew with Feyenoord 1-1. Nancy must surely fancy their chances to progress to the knock-out round since all the other teams are not ‘convincing’ in their own domestic league except Wisla who are currently no.1 in Poland.

These 2 teams have never met before in any European competition but an interesting fact is that no Polish team has ever beaten a French one on French soil since 1969. French and Polish sides have met 33 times in European competitions with French sides ahead 19-8-6.

Domestic statistics :
Nancy : Home : P6 W5 D1 L0 GF8 GA2
Wisla : Away : P5 W0 D5 L0 GF5 GA5

Nancy

Currently 3rd in the French Ligue 1 with the tightest defense as well conceding 6 goals out of 11 matches only. Their last match was to lose to free-scoring Lyon 0-1 away

It can be said that Nancy’s strong showing in the domestic league is due to their outstanding defense. However they don’t score many goals either, only 10 from 11 matches but 8 of these goals came at home.

Nancy entered the UEFA Cup straight into the 1st round and beat Schalke (Ger) 3-2 on aggregate (3-1 at home). Their form read like this. Last 4 home matches WWWW. Last 8 home matches 7-1-0-13-4.

Wisla Krakow

Currently top of Poland’s 1 Liga with 6 wins out of 6 matches at home but their away record is a dismal 0 for 5 having drawn all 5 matches on the road.

They do however score 2 goals per match but that is only at home. On the road they have only managed 1 goal a game on average. In their last away game on 20-Oct-06, they only managed a 0-0 draw against 5th placed Lubin.

Wisla reached this stage of this competition by beating Mattsburg 2-1 on aggregate after drawing the 1st leg 1-1 away in the 2nd qualifying round. In the 1st round, they only qualified to the group stage by beating Iraklis after extra time.

Verdict

Despite Nancy’s lack of experience in European competitions and Wisla’s abundance of it in comparison, nothing suggests that Wisla can win tonight.

If anything, a home win should be on the cards.

However, please note that since this is not the knock-out stage and only the group stage, a win may not be necessary for Wisla. They may play for a point and hope to get their points at home.

But since they lost to Blackburn at home already, they have only 2 chances left at home to get 6 points and at least 3 points from 3 draws from the away matches that will leave them with 9 points.

This might give them a chance for 3rd place depending on the other results.

Nancy on the other hand will want all 3 points from this match since they will consider Wisla and Basel as their best chances for points. Dropping of points at home against Wisla could spell a tough road ahead of them with Blackburn and Feyenoord yet to play.

Nancy should get good support as their fans seldom experience European competitions plus their fine domestic performance.

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

Based on the above and historical results between French and Polish teams, I will go for a HOME WIN in a low scoring game.