Barcelona expects to improve their performance after the change of coach. Messi’s absence is felt, but the Catalans have a great school and many reserves, among which to outline the new leaders of the team. In the championship things are not as they want, the team is in 6th place, 10 points behind the leader Real Madrid, but Xavi is expected to be able to cope with the selection and improve the game of Barça.

Benfica is preparing to win again. they have already done it in September this year, namely against Barcelona and with 3: 0 at home. The favorite then was the Catalan team, but the Portuguese were unquestionable. Now the fight is for the 2nd place and although Benfica has 4 points, if it wins it will replace Barça and will have a chance to continue ahead in the tournament.

I expect to have goals in this match and I will prefer a betting position over 2.5 goals in the match. According to the bookmakers, Barça is the favorite with an average odd1.60, and for over 2.5 goals, you can find an average 1.65 for the regular time.

Prediction – over 2.5 goals- 1.65

Spartak M. is one of the best Russian teams, which last season ranked 2nd. Among the advantages of Spartak M are the high performance (56 goals scored) and the stable defense as a whole. They enter the match after the victory over Krylya Sovetov on Friday with 1:0 and it seems that they have made a good preparation during the summer break. The statistics between the two teams show an almost equal performance, as in two matches Spartak M has recorded a victory and a loss. Pavel Maslov and Aleksandr Selikhov are expected to be absent from the starting lineup, and the Russian club has enough reserves to replace them for the match.

Benfica, for its part, also held summer training and is preparing for this important match. The team recorded 1:1 with Marseille in a friendly match, as the championship in Portugal has not started yet and this will be the first match for the team in a major tournament. Benfica finished third for the 2020-2021 season in the Portuguese Premier League, as the team is one of the strongest in defense and has very few goals conceded. In this match I do not expect more than two goals, and I will choose a position to bet on a double chance. I think that Spartak Moscow will not lose the match in the Russian capital.

Prediction – home win or draw –  1.616 from 22bet

Arsenal ranked 11th in the middle of the table, while they start the season very well with 4 wins and 1 draw with a total of 5 games. Then they don’t show the expected form from their fans and managers and drop to the middle of the table with not very well performed, especially in the last games. Arsenal will try to continue in LEague Europe because they can make smth more in this tournament, seems in Premier League the difference from top6 become bigger and I think they will concentrate in European League. The Gunners would normally have a full Emirates stadium with fans for their home legs, but this tie will be played in an empty stadium. Besides this Arsenal has a little advantage, no matter without fans on the stadium, because they make better games at Emirates at all in statistics in recent years.

Benfica ranked 5th in Portugal Premier League. The difference for 2nd Porto is 5 points, while from the 1st team Sporting CP is 15 points, so they will try to get close to 2nd place, but need more points and more wins till end of Premier League season 2020/2021 year. Benfica’s recent form is not ver strong,  as the Portuguese giants have only won 3 of their last 11 matches in all competitions and a Primeira Liga title charge is seemingly out of the question, so they maybe will try to battle for 2nd place, but here they need to put an effort to get smth for this match with Arsenal. I think a draw will also be good for them because next match will be on their home stadium. Benfica will try to win an and this will be their main aim in this match, so I expect to try to score on away ground as much as possible.

The prediction for this match will be for more, than 2 goals. as I think Arsenal and Benfica will score in this match. The odds are different in top bookmakers, but you can expect 1.80 average odds for over 2.5 goals.

Prediction – over 2.5 with odd 1.82 from Melbet