Europa League - Stoke City v Dynamo Kiev Betting Preview and Odds

STOKE, UNITED KINGDOM

Stoke city, looking forward to extending their unbeaten run in Europe, host Dynamo Kiev at the Britannia this Thursday night. The Potters are the favourite to win the tie at odds of 11/8 with bet365. The Ukranian side are priced at 23/10 with Ladbrokes to take those three crucial points in Group E. The draw is least likely given odds of 11/5 with William Hill.

Stoke only need one point to qualify for the next stage of the competition in what was initially dubbed a difficult group. The manager Tony Pulis will be happy to welcome Cameron Jerome back into the squad as he has now served his one-game European ban. The side had an emphatic victory on Saturday, albeit against the struggling Blackburn. However their form of late has been patchy; they have lost four of their last five Premier League ties.

Dynamo Kiev come into the game top of their domestic league, one point clear of rivals Shakhtar. They recently recorded an important 1-0 win away at Obolon and, on the back of a gutting 3-2 loss to Shakhtar, seem to have found form of late. The Ukranian team will be desperate to take all three points considering only one point lies between them and second in the group (Besitkas).

The 1-1 draw is the favoured scoreline at 5/1 with bet365 and this is followed by Stoke City to secure a 1-0 win, which is at 6/1 with Ladbrokes. A riveting 0-0 draw is given odds of 9/1 with Boylesports and this is probably because Pulis is predicted to take a negative approach, given he only needs one point to qualify. Stoke did capitulate against Bolton a few weeks ago to lose 5-0 and odds of Kiev to win 3-0 is at 33/1 bet365 and 4-0 is 80/1 Coral.

A Stoke City half-time/full-time is most likely at 11/4 bet365. For them to squander a half time lead and go on to lose is priced up at 25/1 Boylesports. For those optimists expecting to see lots of goals there are odds of 7/1 with bet365 on there being more than 4 goals in the match. At the other end of the spectrum under 1.5 goals is given at 12/5 with Ladbrokes.

The towering presence of Peter Crouch is expected to be a thorn in the side of the Kiev defence. The targetman is given odds of 11/2 Paddy Power to be the first name on the scoresheet. His strike partner Kenwyne Jones is right behind him at odds of 13/2 with bet365 to break the deadlock. For the visitors there is one name on everyone’s lips: Andriy Shevchenko. The infamous £30 million flop at Chelsea returns to England in much better spirits I imagine. Odds for the 35 year old to score first are priced up at 8/1 with William Hill. He has scored four goals in the ten league matches he has played in and has looked useful this season despite his age. If he scores tomorrow night I hope a certain Fernando Torres is watching; it may give him solace to see an expensive Chelsea flop playing well.

Kick off is at 20:05 tomorrow.

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