Champions League Prop Picks & Best Bets: 3 Top Plays, Including Chelsea & Manchester United (Oct. 20)
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images. Pictured: Chelsea standout Marcos Alonso celebrates after scoring a goal.
- If you're looking for some Champions League action not tied to a straight game or total pick, why not check out life on the props side?
- Avery Zimmerman takes a deep dive into Wednesday's loaded slate to uncover three props with plenty of betting value.
- Check out below where he's landed on three featured props that comes from games featuring Manchester United, Villarreal and Chelsea.
We have another stacked card of Champions League matches Wednesday, with eight more contests taking center stage on the bright European stage.
Adding to our already extensive coverage of the event, we're also delivering more betting angles with value at The Action Network via our new element that will feature our three top prop plays. From player angles to team and game picks, you will find a little bit of everything to entertain your palate.
Without further ado, check out below where I've landed on three featured props, which comes from matches featuring Manchester United, Villarreal and Chelsea.
Champions League Prop Bets
Man United vs. Atalanta
| The Pick | Palomino To Be Booked (+300) |
| Day | Time | Wednesday | 3 p.m. ET |
| How To Watch | Paramount+ |
| Best odds via FanDuel. Get up-to-the-minute Soccer odds here. | |
Manchester United and Atalanta enter this contest in need of a good result. The English and Italian sides are vying for breathing room in a congested Group F table.
An important Champions League match will always result in high-intensity actions from both players, but will that translate into bookings? Let's take a look at the numbers.
In United's first two UCL matches, it combined with its opponent for four and seven bookings. Atalanta's matches featured five and two cards, respectively. While those four games combine for a 4.5 card/game rate, that doesn't offer much value on a card total of 4.5 with splits at -134/+104 odds.
However, a look at who is getting those cards offers better value. Across all competitions, center back Jose Luis Palomino leads the squad in bookings, but the Argentinian has the 14th-shortest odds to be booked at +300. If Palomino was a rotational player, this would be a bit concerning, but he's played in 78% of the minutes across competitions, good for second most on the team.
As with many individual props in soccer, it might be wise to hold off making a wager until the lineups are released to confirm that Palomino will feature. However, if he does, the price on Palomino getting booked is phenomenal.
Young Boys vs. Villarreal
| The Pick | Villarreal — Team Total Under 1.5 (-120) |
| Day | Time | Wednesday | 3 p.m. ET |
| How To Watch | Paramount+ |
| Best odds via DraftKings. Get up-to-the-minute Soccer odds here. | |
In the second Group F matchup, there's just as much at stake with both teams desperate to keep pace with Atalanta and United. While a victory against the English side has allowed Young Boys to sneak into second on goal differential, getting a point or more at home is crucial.
As such, I anticipate Young Boys setting up in a tough manner to break down, as it did against United. The Swiss club has conceded two goals in two games thus far in the Champions League, though it might be a bit fortunate to have that total with an 2.6 xGA overall.
At home, Young Boys has conceded three goals in four games since the start of September and some of its best defensive performances have been seen in this competition. Villarreal won't be an easy side to do that against, as it has generated 3.8 xG in its two contests thus far, but the story hasn't been the same in La Liga play.
There, Villarreal is averaging 1.3 xG through eight games and struggling mightily to find goals. The Yellow Submarine has scored two-plus goals in just two of their last six matches, and I expect that trend to continue in Bern.
Chelsea vs. Malmö
| The Pick | Chelsea To Win Both Halves (-120) |
| Day | Time | Wednesday | 3 p.m. ET |
| How To Watch | Paramount+ |
| Best odds via PointsBet. Get up-to-the-minute Soccer odds here. | |
Perhaps the most mismatched contest of the day is Chelsea vs. Malmö. The Premier League leader will be at home against a side that has two wins and 12 losses in its past 14 UCL fixtures.
This year, Malmö is 0-2-0 (W-L-D) with a goal differential of -7 so far. Of course, this means that the odds are heavily weighted in Chelsea's favor, as the club has a moneyline of -1250 odds. Despite this, there's a great way to fade Malmö and back the Blues.
You could opt for the Chelsea team total over of 3.5 goals, but the London-based team has only accounted for 1.5 xG per game in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge. On the other hands, Malmö has only conceded a goal per game on the road in the Allsvenskan, which is its domestic league in Sweden.
Get creative and avoid a bit of risk by backing Chelsea to win both halves. This way, you can give yourself a bit of insurance on the Blues not lighting up the scoreboard while only conceding a bit of juice.
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