UEFA Champions League Picks Today: Our UCL Best Bets and Predictions

Arsenal started this Champions League round in 7th but with the same number of points as Monaco in 8^th place. Remember, the top 8 teams advance straight to the playoffs, while teams placed 9^th through 24^th have to play an additional round of qualifications.

Obviously, both Arsenal and Monaco want to go the easier route, which is why I expect them to give their 120% in this one. Despite drawing with Fulham in the last EPL matchday, Arsenal is in far better form than Monaco.

There’s one main attacking threat that has to be pointed out as the pivotal figure, for both in-play and set pieces – Bukayo Saka. According to the EPL Understat details, Bukayo Saka’s xA (expected assists) are 9.02 with 10 actual assists to his name. To put things into perspective, Cole Palmer is the second-best EPL player according to expected assists, with 6.73 xA and 6 real assists.

The most important factor about Saka is his flexibility. He can cross it, he can pass it, he can flick it for a perfect assist from the corner like he did against Manchester United. That said, I expect him to do what he does best against Monaco and help Arsenal inch closer to finishing top 8 in the CL.

The Gunners should comfortably win at home, and Saka is likely to be involved in the action.

Borussia Dortmund going up against Barca ought to make for the most thrilling clash this Wednesday. The Spaniards are currently 3^rd and the Germans 4^th in the current Champions League standings. Obviously, both teams want to advance as one of the top 8 teams so they can skip the extra qualification round… and judging by both of their form lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if they both manage it.

Even though we’re talking about two attack-minded teams, I doubt we’ll see them go all-in here. I’m not saying they’ll go easy on each other, but I doubt we’ll see negligent behavior in defense and overly heavy attacking plays.

Both teams have had a fair share of CL matches with more than 3 goals. Borussia’s 5:2 loss to Real Madrid,  as well as their 7:1 win against Celtic. For Barcelona, we have their 5:2 win against Crvena Zvezda, 4:1 against Bayern, and 5:0 against Young Boys.

However, all these games were completely one-sided, while I expect a close affair today. That’s why the odds for the under 3.5 goals are among the best UCL bets today.

The third Champions League pick for Wednesday revolves around Atletico Madrid vs. Slovan Bratislava clash. On one end, we have a successful La Liga team currently in 3^rd place domestically, but 15^th in the current Champions League standings. On the other end is a team that still has 0 points in the CL with -14 goal difference after 5 fixtures.

Yep, Slovan Bratislava is not doing well this season. It’s not just the CL either… Slovan is having difficulties in the Slovakian Nike Liga too. They’re still at the top, but Zilina is just a point below and with far superior goal difference.

As the heading implies, we’re going with Simeone’s Atleti to demolish struggling Slovakians. After all, we’ve already seen Atletico Madrid score whopping 4 goals in their last fixture against Sevilla. However, they conceded 3, which was unexpected from  La Liga’s best defensive team. But, we have to take into account the fact Slovan Bratislava has nowhere near the attacking quality of Sevilla.

With that in mind, I’m sure Atletico Madrid can close this one out while covering the -2.5 spread. A clean 3:0 or 4:1 is what I’m expecting here. At -140, it’s worth a shot!