Fulham and Stoke will both play in tomorrow’s round of the Europa Cup qualification rounds, and while their matches look fairly benign, this is the Europa Cup and surprises are frequent in these early rounds. Stoke have the tougher task as they travel to play Hajduk Split. Fulham at least can play on their home turf  when they meet RNK Split. Bookmakers have both favourites for their respective matches and, on form, it’s quite justified.

It is early in the season – in fact, the season proper is still ten days away and that makes the task a little harder for everyone. Bookmakers have Stoke at 7/5 to defeat Hajduk with bookmakers quoting them a little longer at 19/10. The draw is steady at 12/5, the standard offering for most football matches. Some clever betting you could back both Stoke and Hajduk to win with a saver on the draw. It will take a little shopping to get the best odds on offer and you will need a clever betting system – however, it is very possible.

The same cannot be said for Fulham. Being at home, they are hot favourites in Europa League betting at 1/5 with RNK well out with bookmakers offering as much 14/1 about their chances. Even the draw is out past 5/1 with some bookmakers. Fulham should coast home in their match while Stoke should scrape home in theirs.

In Europa Cup outright betting, Sevilla lead the betting at 12/1 from Atletico Madrid, Paris SG and Tottenham all at 14/1. It’s early in the season and any bets placed now are purely speculative and not based on current form. We know that Spurs are targeting this competition, however, they are also targeting a good finish in the Premier League in order to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Perhaps a little on Spurs could pay dividends – if they start their campaign well, those odds will soon tumble in.