Top 3 Europa League and NFL bets for Thursday

Who plays in the early Europa League game tonight

West Ham can claim their place in the knockouts with another win in their Europa League game at Genk. The Hammers have won all three games so far without conceding a goal, including the 3-0 win over the Belgians in the reverse fixture two week ago. The other three teams are all tied together on 3 points in Group H. Tonight is manager David Moyes’ 1000^th game in football management, and the West Ham team will be determined not to ruin the big night with a bad result.

Headed Goal Minutes (35-39)

Both West Ham centre-halves – Craig Dawson and Issa Diop - scored in the 3-0 win at the London Stadium, and if Genk haven’t improved their set piece defending in the past couple of weeks, a repeat could be in order. In addition, Genk’s star striker is the 6ft7  Paul Onuachu. He almost scored a header in the first match, and having endured a mini goal brought, scored at the weekend in preparation for the visit of West Ham. Buying any goal-related market comes with risk though, given the Hammers are yet to concede a goal.

Do Leicester still have a chance of getting out of their Europa League group?

As half-time of the last game approached at Spartak Moscow, Leicester looked on their way out of the Europa League, 2-0 down and on their way to the bottom of Group C. Patson Daka breathed life into the campaign by pulling one back just before the break and completed a hat-trick to turn the game on its head within nine minutes of the restart. The Zambian striker added a fourth, and while Spartak got one back, it wasn’t enough. Leicester are currently third in Group C, level on points with Napoli, one ahead of Spartak and two behind leaders Legia Warsaw.

Total Goal Minutes 163-178

Both of these teams looked much happier going forward than defending in the first clash between them which at times felt more like a basketball game, and punters hoping for a repeat have been buying Total Goal Minutes. Leicester have only kept one clean sheet all season, at Millwall in the EFL Cup back in September. Brendan Rodgers will be determined to tighten them up at the back.

Who is playing in the NFL Thursday Night Football?

The Indianapolis Colts face the New York Jets in a game between two sides with losing records. On the face of it, the Colts (3-5) against the Jets (2-5) wouldn’t be that watchable, but the Jets shocked the NFL last week, coming back from an 11-point deficit to beat Cincinnati on Sunday, the first time in five years the Jets have overcome a 4th quarter deficit of more than 10 points. Mike White threw for over 400 yards on his first NFL start in that game, the most by a Jets QB in over 20 years.

Michael Carter Player Performance (96-104)

Carter rushed for 77 yards in that Bengals clash and had 95 receiving yards as he quickly made a great connection with debutant White. That has prompted some interest in his Player Performance spread tonight. The market awards 25 points per touchdown scored, and 1 point per rushing or receiving yard gained.