Charlie Nicholas' Europa League predictions for Liverpool, Tottenham and Celtic
Friday 23 October 2015 14:42, UK
Fresh from successfully tipping four out of four results in the Champions League, Charlie Nicholas provides his Europa League predictions.
The Soccer Saturday pundit correctly predicted his former club Arsenal would beat Bayern Munich and Chelsea would draw at Dynamo Kiev, before going even better and nailing exact scorelines for Manchester City's 2-1 victory over Sevilla and Manchester United's 1-1 draw at CSKA Moscow.
Here's what Charlie is tipping up for Europa League clashes involving British sides...
Anderlecht v Tottenham
I would imagine that Spurs will be going to Belgium in the hope that they can get another draw because they obviously feel like a draw is worth a victory to them in the group that they're in.
I think this is a tough game because Anderlecht are a dangerous side, they attack well, they score goals - yes they're a bit vulnerable. I'm going to go for another draw, with Spurs, the draw specialists, to be chuffed to bits with another point.
I think Mauricio Pochettino will continue with his strongest team and for that reason everybody that is getting fed up with Harry Kane might have to choke on it a little bit as I'm going for him to score first.
Charlie predicts: 2-2 with Kane scoring first (55/1 with Sky Bet)
Liverpool v Rubin Kazan
Jurgen Klopp has to have a lot of interest in this game, not so much because of the competition, but the interest is he has to identify his shape, which I think he will have been quite pleased with at Spurs because they did defend better than previously.
I think we will be interested in giving Jordon Ibe, and a few others, an opportunity to see whether they can fit in the team. He needs game time to put all his methods and thoughts into exactly how the team should be, and making too many changes makes it hard for him to identify who is taking on board what he wants.
There will be some who will pick it up quicker than others, such as James Milner, but he needs to give the likes of Adam Lallana game time so he can identify whether they can work in his system. He'll go with a strong Liverpool team and be looking for a performance and a first win in front of the home supporters.
Goalscorer wise, he must keep playing Philippe Coutinho to let him fit into the structure of his team, and if he does so then he'll score first.
Charlie predicts: 3-1 with Coutinho to score first (50/1 with Sky Bet)
Molde v Celtic
I don't understand how Celtic have favouritism, I really don't. Molde have got four points so far and Celtic have two draws and if it's because of league positions, and I think Molde are seventh in their league, that doesn't mean a lot to me. European games take a lot out of these Scandinavian sides because they're so committed to gaining the finance from getting through the stages.
This is another tough call for me because Celtic have not got a great record away from home, while Molde can just sit in and say, if you are favourites and the bigger club then break us down. The way the group is set I think Celtic would be pretty happy with a draw as it keeps them in a decent position to qualify and that's what I'm going for.
Charlie predicts: 1-1 with Svendsen to score first (35/1 with Sky Bet)
