The latest major event on the Counter Strike: Global Offensive circuit - season 17 of the ESL Pro League - began last month and there are more key contests taking place in Malta on Thursday.

Season 17 of the ESL Pro League features 32 teams in total, divided initially across four groups of eight.

Four teams progress from each section in the group stage, making the playoffs, in which they will compete for a share of $850,000 in prize money, while the champions will secure automatic promotion for both the IEM Cologne 2023 and the BLAST Premier World Final 2023 at the end of the year.

The tournament is still in the group phase and Group A is done and dusted with Cloud9, Outsiders, G2 Esports and Fnatic having all advanced and Group B is now in full swing.

The upper-bracket quarter-finals have concluded in Group B with the upper-bracket semi-finals now set to take place along with the first round of the mid bracket, featuring the teams that lost their opening games.

Expect a win from experienced MOUZ against FURIA

What	FURIA vs MOUZ, ESL Pro League
Where	Malta
When	10am EST, Thursday March 2nd, 2023
How to watch	ESL Twitch / YouTube channel
Odds	FURIA -100, MOUZ -137

Both FURIA and MOUZ made strong starts to their respective ESL Pro League campaigns, winning their upper-bracket quarter-finals against Imperial and SAW, and they are set to clash for a place in the upper-bracket final and, therefore, the knockout stages.

There is not a lot between these sides with MOUZ 12th and FURIA 14th in the HLTV world rankings but it is fair to say MOUZ have the edge when it comes to experience in bigger tournaments.

FURIA often lack that cutting edge when it comes to the bigger matchups with Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato in particular renowned for going missing when it matters the most.

MOUZ made the quarter-finals of the playoffs in season 16 of the ESL Pro League and look a good price at -137 to win this contest.

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Esports: CS:GO ESL Pro League Wednesday matches

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Heroic should be too strong for BIG

What	Heroic vs BIG, ESL Pro League
Where	Malta
When	1.30pm EST, Thursday March 2nd, 2023
How to watch	ESL Twitch / YouTube channel
Odds	Heroic -600, BIG +350

In the other upper-bracket final in Group B, Heroic are strongly fancied at -600 to overcome +350 shots BIG.

BIG are no mugs, currently sitting 16th in the HLTV world rankings, but they were not at their sharpest in their ESL Pro League opener against Complexity, going down 16-8 on the first map Ancient in that match.

And in Heroic, they are coming up against the second best team in the world of CS:GO according to the current HLTV world rankings.

The Danes breezed to a 2-0 win over Movistar Riders in their opener, conceding only 11 games across the two maps in that contest, and they have looked good on the biggest of stages in the last couple of months.

They finished as runners-up at the IEM Katowice in February, won the BLAST Premier Fall Final in November and finished second at the IEM Rio in the same month.

They are a force to be reckoned with on the CS:GO circuit and they look a solid selection at -137 to win this encounter 2-0.

Imperial can get back on their feet with win over SAW

What	SAW vs Imperial, ESL Pro League
Where	Malta
When	1.30pm EST, Thursday March 2nd, 2023
How to watch	ESL Twitch / YouTube channel
Odds	SAW +120 Imperial -162

Dropping down to the mid bracket in Group B of the ESL Pro League, SAW and Imperial are looking to bounce back from their opening defeats when they clash on Thursday.

At -162, Imperial are fancied to come out on top and that is understandable given they put up more of a fight in their 2-0 loss to FURIA than SAW did in their defeat by the same scoreline to MOUZ.

MOUZ are of course a better side than FURIA but Imperial still looked okay, losing the two maps in their contest 16-13 and 19-16.

They are no CS:GO big guns but they won the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference in South America at the start of the year and were a top-four side at the FiReLEAGUE 2022 Global Finals as well.

They are a worthwhile price to defeat SAW.