Matchday Three in this season's Champions League league phase kicks off on Tuesday with nine fascinating fixtures, including Villarreal taking on Manchester City and Barcelona's clash with Olympiacos.
City, spearheaded by the inspired Erling Haaland, are one of three Premier League clubs in action, with Newcastle United set to host Benfica in a pivotal clash at St James’ Park.
Elsewhere, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain will both be looking to maintain their perfect starts in the competition, with the Gunners at home to Atletico Madrid, while the holders travel to Germany to take on Bayer Leverkusen.
We’ve selected a four-fold accumulator for Tuesday’s games, which pays around 19/1 if successful.
Tuesday Champions League accumulator tips
Villarreal vs Manchester City – Erling Haaland to score and Man City to win @ 5/4
Newcastle United vs Benfica – BTTS @ 31/40
Barcelona vs Olympiacos – Lamine Yamal to score and Barcelona to win @ 5/4
Bayer Leverkusen vs PSG – Over 3.5 Goals @ 7/5
Acca pays @ 19.5/1
Villarreal vs Manchester City – Erling Haaland to score and Man City to win @ 5/4
Pep Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in eight and come into this one fresh off a 2-0 win over Everton. They’ve already taken four points from Napoli and Monaco in the league phase and will be confident of another positive result in Spain.
Villarreal have lost to English opposition already this season, falling to a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham after a goalkeeping blunder. They sit third in La Liga, but have not won in their last three and conceded a combined seven goals across those outings.
City should learn their lesson from the draw against Monaco when they hit the woodwork twice and failed to manage the game properly in the final minutes.
And, with Haaland boasting 36 goals in his 32 group stage/league phase appearances in this competition, including eight in eight Champions League games against Spanish sides, the visitors should have too much firepower.
Newcastle United vs Benfica – BTTS @ 31/40
Newcastle bounced back from their opening defeat to Barcelona with a 4-0 demolition of Union Saint-Gilloise and, with Nick Woltemade and Anthony Gordon in fine form, the Magpies will be confident at St James’ Park.
Benfica, however, are desperate to avoid a third straight defeat after narrow losses to Qarabag and Chelsea. Greek striker Vangelis Pavlidis has five goals in seven league games and remains their biggest threat.
Both teams have attacking quality and motivation to push forward, so expect goals at both ends.
Barcelona vs Olympiacos – Lamine Yamal to score and Barcelona to win @ 5/4
Barcelona have won all seven of their previous home games against Greek opposition in UEFA competitions and will be confident of making that eight against Olympiacos.
The Greek champions are notoriously poor travellers, having lost all of their last 11 away group stage/league phase matches.
Hansi Flick’s side bounced back from back-to-back defeats against PSG and Sevilla with a 2-1 home win over Girona at the weekend and it was no surprise to see Lamine Yamal have a hand in their opening goal.
The 18-year-old will become the youngest player to make 25 appearances in the Champions League proper if he features on Tuesday and will be keen to add to his five-goal tally in the competition.
Bayer Leverkusen vs PSG – Over 3.5 Goals @ 7/5
PSG have proven too strong for Atalanta and Barcelona so far, so they should be capable of beating Bayer Leverkusen too.
However, there is probably greater value to be had in the goal markets given the results each of these sides produced last weekend.
PSG were held to a 3-3 draw by Strasbourg on Friday night before Leverkusen edged a seven-goal Bundesliga thriller 4-3 against Mainz on Saturday.
With both teams capable of scoring and leaking goals, this one could be a thriller.
