Europa League quarter-finals preview  

Alongside this week’s Champions League fixtures come the quarter final clashes of the Europa League, in which the final eight teams continue their push to secure some European silverware in the historic competition.

We preview two of Thursday’s games below.

Bet on the Europa League Quarter Finals with William Hill

Liverpool v Atalanta – Thursday 8.00pm, Anfield

Of all the teams remaining in the Europa League, a trip to Anfield against Liverpool was probably the one Atalanta were looking to avoid. The Reds head into the fixture as strong favourites at 3/10, with Atalanta stark outsiders to cause an upset in the opening leg at 7/1.

Liverpool have had the most shots on target in the Europa League this season on 63, hitting the back of the net 28 times in six games. It is fair to say that should one be looking for a bit of value in the betting, using the Total Player Shots On Target market would be a good place to start, with star player Mohamed Salah 2/1 to test the keeper twice. Jurgen Klopp’s men will be keen to leave their mark on the Italian side to make their return fixture as comfortable as possible and the aforementioned Salah is 4/6 to etch his name on the scoresheet, narrowly ahead of Diogo Jota (19/20) and Darwin Nunez (EVS). Despite the title race in the Premier League very much at the forefront of Liverpool’s mind, they will be pining to sweep up any silverware they can to end Jurgen Klopp’s reign on a high.

Atalanta last met with Liverpool in the group stages of the Champions League back in the 2020/21 season, in which they managed to put two past The Reds at Anfield having lost 5-0 in the opening leg at home. Despite the monumental challenge most teams face when heading to Anfield, the Italian outfit will take some comfort from the fact that they have outperformed their opposition there before and are capable of doing so again. They currently sit sixth in the Serie A with a poor run of form heading into this game, but should anyone manage to slot a few past Liverpool’s keeper, it’ll be the likes of either Gianluca Scamacca, Ademola Lookman or Teun Koopmeiners who all lead the anytime goalscorer market for Atalanta at 7/2.

Bayer Leverkusen v West Ham – Thursday 8.00pm, BayArena

Similarly to the Liverpool vs Atalanta game, we have a strong odds-on favourite on our hands in this one where West Ham head to the BayArena to take on Xabi Alonso’s unstoppable Bayer Leverkusen.

Leverkusen sit at 4/9 in the betting to kick off their quarter final clash on the front foot, with West Ham way out at 6/1 to pick up a win away from home in the opener.

This will be the first meeting of the two clubs in Europe, and the first meeting Bayer have had against English opposition since the 2016/17 season. Bayer have a wealth of attacking prowess with the likes of Victor Okoh Boniface (23/20), Patrik Schick (23/20), Borja Igelsias (7/5) and Alejandro Grimaldo (19/10), all more than capable of netting against the Hammers. The German side have gone unbeaten in 41 games across all competitions and won’t want to give it up just yet, having just moved 16 points clear of typical Bundesliga frontrunners Bayern Munich to top the league table. This could go down in history as Bayer Leverkusen’s best season under the tutelage of Xabi Alonso in his debut season as manager.

West Ham tasted European success in last year’s Europa Conference League where they beat Fiorentina to take home the trophy in which Jarrod Bowen fired home the winner in the dying minutes of the game. The Hammers sit seventh in the Premier League having just beat Wolves 2-1 at Molineux, and this will fill them will confidence ahead of this clash with the German giants. The upcoming two legs look to be a massive hill to climb for the English side against some pretty classy opposition, but they have some firepower of their own in Jarrod Bowen (13/5), Mohammed Kudus (19/5) and Michail Antonio (19/5) who will all be after a goal in the opener.