Europa Conference League winner odds and outright predictions: L'OM a solid bet

Free football tips, best outright bets and analysis for the 2021-22 Europa Conference League, which resumes on Thursday, February 17.

Best bet

Marseille
1pt 7-1 general

Europa Conference League outright preview

Uefa's most recent innovation - the Europa Conference League - was designed to give smaller clubs a shot at continental glory but it could be an established European outfit who rise to the top in the first edition of the new competition.

Marseille are in the Europa Conference league after finishing third in Group E in the Europa League behind Galatasaray and Lazio.

And although a club of Marseille's standard should have advanced to the knockout stage, a record of one win, four draws and one defeat was not disastrous.

As they have done in Ligue 1 all season, they showed strong defensive resolve in the Europa League, keeping three clean sheets in the group stage.

That should stand them in good stead in the Europa Conference League, in which their attacking players should also have more luck.

Arkadiusz Milik remains a decent forward option, having bagged four goals in the Europa League group stage earlier this season, while they also secured the services of Cedric Bakambu in the January transfer window.

Experienced striker Bakambu is already off the mark and along with Milik, Dmitri Payet and Cengiz Under, he could form part of a prolific attack at this level.

Although the Ligue 1 title has been all but wrapped up by Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille look assured of a top-three berth barring a collapse and that gives them licence to throw everything at the Europa Conference League.

A former Copa America winner with Chile, experienced coach Jorge Sampaoli has made Marseille tough to break down and that should give them a great chance of avoiding any slip-ups in this competition.

Only Roma and Leicester are above them in the outright betting and there are strong reasons to oppose both of those clubs.

Under Jose Mourinho, Roma have flattered to deceive, winning their opening two group games in this competition comfortably before an astonishing 6-1 capitulation against minnows Bodo/Glimt.

Roma managed to top their group nonetheless but they have not looked quite the same in Serie A since, having dropped out of contention for a top-four berth.

They could be facing quite a scrap to get back into those positions in a competitive Italian top flight and are too inconsistent to back as outright favourites.

Leicester have had bad luck with injuries but even taking that into account they look some way off the Foxes teams we have seen in the last few years.

They are locked in mid-table obscurity in the Premier League and did not put up much of a fight when dispatched in the group stage of the Europa League, while Nottingham Forest made light work of them in the FA Cup.

Achieving a respectable league finish will surely be priority for Brendan Rodgers this term and they look at team to swerve at a single-figure price in the Conference League outright market.

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