5 Tips for Thursday’s Football Action - 23/9/21

On Thursday, Celtic host Raith Rovers at Celtic Park in the Scottish League Cup and the Hoops are firm favourites to qualify for the next round.

Raith have shown that they do have the potential to cause an upset against Celtic in this year’s competition, as they finished top of Group D ahead of the likes of Livingston, Cowdenbeath, Alloa Athletic and Brechin before knocking out Aberdeen 2-1 in the last round, thanks to goals from Ethon Varian and Dario Zanatta.

Celtic come into this game looking to bounce back from their narrow defeat at Livingston at the weekend and will be hoping to replicate their excellent home form in the Scottish Premiership against Raith in the cup, having scored 15 across three league matches at home against St Mirren, Dundee and Ross County.

Ange Postecoglou will be expected to rotate his side which will more than likely see Albian Ajeti start. The striker has scored three goals for the Hoops so far this season, having scored a brace against Ross County, as well as managing a goal in their recent 4-3 away defeat at Real Betis in the Europa League. The 24-year-old Swiss striker is priced at 3/1 to score first.

Next up on this list of tips is Sampdoria against Napoli at Luigi Ferraris Stadium which is a battle of 11th against top of the table.

Sampdoria have managed five points from four games and have been a tough team to break down, as they have conceded just three times in their opening fixtures where they beat Empoli 3-0 last time out, as well as drawing 0-0 and 2-2 with Sassuolo and Inter Milan, after they were narrowly defeated 1-0 at home to AC Milan on the opening weekend of the season following a goal by Brahim Diaz.

Meanwhile, Napoli have won all four matches that they have played, scoring 10 and conceding just twice in victories against Venezia 2-0, before defeating both Genoa and Juventus 2-1, before thrashing Udinese 4-0 last time out where Victor Osimhen, Amir Rrhamini, Kalidou Koulibaly and Hirving Lozano all got on the scoresheet for Luciano Spalletti’s side.

Roma take on Udinese on Thursday night in Serie A in a match that they will expect to win at the Stadio Olimpico, especially when considering the visitor's heavy defeat to Napoli last time out.

So far under Jose Mourinho, Roma have been an entertaining side to watch, having scored 11 and conceded five times in their opening four matches, accumulating nine points having defeated Fiorentina 3-1, as well as Salernitana 4-0 and Sassuolo 2-1 via a stoppage-time winner by Stephan El Shaarawy, before losing in dramatic style to Hellas Verona 3-2 last time out.

Meanwhile, Udinese are eighth after four matches with seven points to their name, having beaten both Venezia and Spezia 2-0 and 1-0, as well as drawing 2-2 with Juventus on the opening weekend of the season thanks to goals from Roberto Pereyra and Gerard Deulofeu.

17th placed Granada host fourth in the table Real Sociedad on Thursday night in La Liga.

Robert Moreno’s side have managed just three points from five matches following their shock 1-1 draw with Barcelona on Monday night at the Nou Camp where Ronald Koeman’s side scored a stoppage-time equaliser through Ronald Araujo having fallen behind to Domingos Duarte’s second-minute goal. So far in five La Liga games, Granada have conceded eight goals and are yet to win in the league.

Real Sociedad are flying at present, as following their 4-2 defeat to Barcelona on the opening weekend of the season, they have beaten Rayo Vallecano and Levante by 1-0 scorelines, as well as defeating Cadiz 2-0 and drawing 0-0 with Sevila.

A player to look out for in this match will be Mikel Oyarzabal who featured for Spain at Euro 2020. The 24-year-old has scored four goals in five league matches for his club so far this season and is priced at 13/8 to score anytime against Granada.

The final tip on this list comes from Cadiz versus Barcelona at Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla on Thursday night in La Liga, with the away side looking to bounce back from their disappointing 1-1 draw with Granada last time out.

Koeman’s men have had a tough month, as they were also hammered 3-0 at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, but, before the international break they did Getafe and Real Sociedad 2-1 and 4-2, as well as earning a hard-fought point against Athletic Bilbao in between these victories. These results see Barca sit in seventh place, five points off Real Madrid at the top of La Liga having played one game less.

Cadiz are 13th in the league standings with five points from five matches having drawn their opening two matches against Levante and Real Betis 1-1 with Alvaro Negredo scoring in the latter game. Since those two draws, they have been beaten 3-2 and 2-0 by Osasuna and Sociedad, before earning their first victory of the campaign last time out away at Celta Vigo where goals from Anthony Lozano and Alfonso Espino were enough to earn them a narrow 2-1 victory.