Sevilla managed to put on a good solid win to go with some good football played in the weekend, beating Cordoba 3-0 at home. It came as a breath of fresh air after a loss to Real Madrid and a disappointing loss to Getafe. Playing at home has been a huge advantage for the Andalusian side this year … they are the only team in Primera undefeated at home, with 8 wins and 3 draws in 11 matches. Sevilla won the last 6 matches at home, 5 of them without conceding. Actually Sevilla allowed only 2 goals in the last 8 gome games, both of them in a clash vs. Espanyol.
There are some problems with injuries for Sevilla ahead of this game, mainly the same problems they had before the Cordoba match: Beto, Coke, Mbia and Aspas are out, Gameiro and Tremoulinas will probably miss from the lineup as well. So these are some pretty heavy missings for the home team.
I watched Gladbach defeat Koln in a big derby clash over the weekend, but it was not the best performance from the Germans … they won 1-0 in the last minute, scoring at probably the only real chance they had. Gladbach was totally unable to produce chances, the strikers were nowhere to be found. The worrying fact for Gladbach is that this is becoming a trend … it happened in each of the 4 games played this year, in which Gladbach scored only 3 goals. But they are defending fantastic, conceding only 1 time … thus winning 3 of these 4 matches in 2015. Borussia Monchengladbach has a full squad available ahead of this game.
We should not expect too much attacking football in this one in my opinion. Sevilla is missing some important players and Gladbach is defending extremely well, so it will probably be mostly possession football played by the Andalusians, without too many oppenings. Gladbach should have some chances on counters, but lately they were unable to produce anything up front … the strikers look completely out of form and ideas. I was thinking of a bet on under 2,5 goals, but I will take a risk and tip Sevilla to win to nil.
I can not see Gladbach scoring in the current state of their attack and I think Sevilla will manage to edge a win, they are amazing at home and are always up for the task in Europa League. Correct score prediction: FC Sevilla – Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0.
Pick: Sevilla to win to nil
Odds: 3.10
