The 2026/27 Europa League is about to get underway in what looks like the most competitive edition of the tournament in years.
While English clubs have been strongly represented in recent years, it's two Serie A clubs who head the Europa League betting in the shape of Juventus and Milan, with 2024 runners-up Bayer Leverkusen third in the betting.
Bournemouth look the strongest of the Premier League contingent, but speaking in the Football Betting Club podcast, Mark Stinchcombe is happy to swerve the Italian and English sides.
Europa League Prediction
Best Bet: Benfica to win the Europa League @ 20/1
"I'll tell you who i don't like and that's Juve and Milan as favourites," said Mark. "I worry about the huge quality drop-off from Serie A compared to the other top leagues.
"If we look at last season, Inter were knocked out by Bodo/Glimt, Napoli only finished 30th in the Champions League group stages, Juve were knocked out by Galatasaray after losing that first leg 5-2, Atalanta were beaten 10-2 on aggregate by Bayern.
"Juventus as 7/1 favs... I don't know who's going to score the goals for them because Vlahovic has left, Openda's left, Jonathan David's left, even Timothy Weah who can fill in in attacking positions, so I couldn't be having Juventus at the prices.
"Outside of the Champions League, England have dominated the competitions last season; do I want to back Bournemouth at 10/1 at this stage with very little to go off under Marco Rose's tenure so far? Not really. Do I want to back Palace at 14/1? No. Sunderland at 18s? Not for me.
"I did wonder if there was one team at a bigger price that might outperform their odds and that was Benfica at 20/1. They were unbeaten in Portugal last season. They only finished third in the league but it's a good form line to go off. Completely unbeaten and it was Real Madrid who knocked them out of the Champions League.
"Marco Silva now in charge, they started the season in decent form, scoring five goals, six goals, seven goals in different games. I think they've got a lot of exciting attacking options in Vangelis Pavlidis, Jhon Duran if he stays, Gianluca Prestianni, Andreas Schjelderup, Dodi Lukebakio, Rafa Silva, Hoerhiy Sudakov, and I think they've addressed any defensive deficiencies.
"Joao Palhinha's been reunited with Marco Silva to anchor the midfield, you've got Clement Lenglet at the back. if you look at last season, both Braga and Porto made the quarter-finals, Braga went on to make the semi-finals to be knocked out by Freiburg."
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