UEFA Europa League Predictions Today: UEL Best Bets for March 12

Nottingham Forest have enjoyed a nice new manager bounce under Vitor Pereira. The team plays with plenty of confidence, as we saw in the most recent EPL clash against Manchester City. Forest twice came from behind, scoring fantastic goals, to earn a hard-fought draw.

The team has added an extra level of imagination up front to the defensive discipline installed by Sean Dyche and Nuno Espirito Santo. The attacking players are moving the ball fast, playing with purpose and penetration.

That should lead to good opportunities against the shaky Midtjylland defense. The Danish side already visited Nottingham in the group stage of the tournament, winning by 3-2. However, Forest was struggling with Ange Postecoglu at the helm back then.

The new-found confidence with Pereira should be enough to win this time around, but the odds of -197 are rather fair. Instead, I prefer to grab Forest and BTTS at +220, as the visitors are dangerous enough to find the net themselves.

This one should be very close, with limited risks taken on both sides. Lille is a team that heavily relies on defense and clean sheets to win. The French side has allowed only five goals in the last five games and scored six.

I expect a conservative approach against Aston Villa again, especially since the English side enters this tie as a strong favorite to progress. That’s a bit generous, given recent performances, though. Villa has three defeats and a draw in the last four games in all competitions.

After overperforming all advanced attacking metrics for most of the season, the team is regressing to the mean and struggling to deliver goals consistently. More worryingly, the defense has been a big problem.

Aston Villa allowed eleven goals in the last three, so Unai Emery needs to find solutions. The Spanish manager knows well that you can’t win the Europa League without a solid defense, so I expect him to focus on that for the Lille match.

Both sides will be unwilling to take too many risks early on, so I expect very little action in the opening half. The -120 for under 1 goal before the interval is one of the Europa League best bets today since it offers an insurance in case one of the teams does score.