Sports Spread Betting Blog 24/08/2016: West Ham v Astra Giurgiu, Europa League play-off, second leg

West Ham are seeking to book a place in the group stages of the Europa League by beating the team that knocked them out of last season’s competition.

And the Spreadex traders – and punters – think the Hammers will see off Astra Giurgiu with comfort in their latest encounter at the Olympic Stadium.

Last week’s play-off first leg ended in a 1-1 draw in Romania when Denis Alibec’s late goal cancelled out captain Mark Noble’s 45th minute penalty.

But Spreadex has the spread betting Goal Supremacy at West Ham/Astra Giurgiu 1.55 – 1.75 and so far we’ve only had buyers on that spread, indicating that clients expect Slaven Bilic’s side to win by at least a two goal margin.

On the fixed odds, West Ham are 1/4 to win the tie on the night (and 1/9 to qualify by any means), while the draw is 4/1 and an Astra Giurgiu victory 9/1.



Last season, this same fixture ended in a 2-2 draw at the Boleyn Ground when James Collins was sent off and the Irons surrendered a two goal lead. That result, followed by a 2-1 defeat away from home, saw West Ham tumble out of the competition.

However, Bilic has given the Europa League higher priority this season with his side now in place at their new 60,000 capacity home.

West Ham have a number of selection problems with Andy Carroll, Manuel Lanzini, Sofiane Feghouli, Andre Ayew and Aaron Cresswell all out injured, Dimitri Payet and Diafra Sakho not yet match fit and Arthur Masuaku cup-tied.

Even so, they should have enough in reserve to see off the Romanian visitors who have only recorded one win in their eight matches played so far this season in all competitions.

In their latest outing, Astra Giurgiu were thumped 5-1 away from home in the Romanian League at the weekend and, perhaps with this in mind, we’ve also seen plenty of buyers of Total Goals on a spread of 2.8 – 3.

New Argentinian loanee Jonathan Calleri is expected to start alongside Ecuadorian Enner Valencia and Spreadex has the Player Goal Minute and Super Mega Player Goal Minute quotes exactly the same for both players at 25 – 28 and 39 – 45 respectively.

Coverage is on BT Sport Extra with kick-off at 7.45pm.