Football betting tips: Europa League
2pts Over 10.5 corners at 6/5 (General)
Such is the nature of our bias towards the British leagues that we often forget there are crisis clubs on the continent too.
With Rangers starting in appalling fashion under Russell Martin, a side sat 11th in the Scottish Premiership table with no wins after five, you'd imagine any opposition will fancy their chances of success against the Glasgow outfit.
Enter: Genk. A side who topped the Belgian regular season last time out but failed to convert that into success in the second part of the campaign (the Champions' play-offs).
After eight games of the current season, they are 14th of 16 - two wins on their tally from a possible eight. It's a meeting of two sides who hit the 'crisis club' criteria if we're applying the often short-term view utilised across football.
Rangers have hardly been able to capitalise on any 'confidence' gained from the recent 0-0 draw with Celtic - frankly one of the worst games between the pair there's been in a very long time. A 2-0 defeat to Hearts followed a couple of weeks later.
There will be real pressure in-running on whichever manager falls behind. For the home side, as has been the case in recent outings, there will no doubt be calls for significant change to be made.
I love the potential game state for CORNERS, with OVER 10.5 priced at a general 6/5.
A win is vital for both given the underwhelming starts. In a usual season, taking a point in your first European group stage encounter would likely be accepted; it's far from the case here.
There is also the preference Genk have on using their width. Nearly half of the attacks created have been down their left whereas last season saw a more equal balance on either side.
They've also attempted the most crosses of any Belgian top-flight side by some distance - the stats translate to an average of 24.8 per game.
Only the two Edinburgh sides have averaged more crosses than Rangers (25.4) across the opening weeks of the Scottish season too.
The game state and style combination makes this a market well worth considering.
Oh, and another thing...
I did want to mention this here because I'm not sure if it's value at this point.
Rangers are 8/1 to finish in the top eight at the end of the group stage. That's a bet worth backing but I'm in two minds about when to do so.
The likelihood is that Russell Martin doesn't last and they get someone else in for the remainder of the season. They need to win around five of their eight games to qualify automatically.
There's an international break coming up in October and that could be the perfect time to admit you got things wrong, make a change and get the season back on track.
The only issue is that they'll have two Europa League games before then - this one included. Lose both of those and there's a big task to fight their way through.
But then the price will inevitably get bigger. They have some very winnable games on paper across the next couple of months and a new manager could guide them through it.
And if Martin is still in charge at the end of the group stage, you could make a good guess that he's managed to turn things around and they're gaining results again.
A win on Thursday puts them on the right course and will see that 8/1 shorten across the board. It depends on how you view Rangers' chances against another club in a poor position.
This could be a bet revisited in a couple of weeks time. Let's see how it all plays out.
Odds correct at 1435 BST (23/09/25)
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