Sporting CP vs Lille Prediction: Stand-out 11/2 first goal scorer price can’t be ignored

It's Sporting CP v Lille on Tuesday 17th September (20:00) at Sporting's Estadio de Alvalade in the opening round of the Champions League and its spanking new format, with the match live on TNT Sports 4.  

Portugal-based Jamie Pacheco likes the home win to nil and a first goalscorer at 11/2 who is 3/5 on wins this season on that particular market as he takes us through his Sporting CP vs Lille Predictions...

Sporting Lisbon 

So far so good for Sporting Lisbon after a truly impressive run of five straight wins in the league sees them top of the table with a five-point cushion over surprise second-placed side Famalicao. In this league, that’s a bit gap to overcome for the other title contenders, even at this early stage.  

The secret to their success is their manager Ruben Amorim, who by now knows the players at his disposal like the back of his hand and does a great job of getting the best out of them.  

Of course, it doesn’t do any harm that in Victor Gyokeres he has a man who can almost rival Erling Haaland for goals. He now has eight in those five games and has scored in every single one of them. His penalty against Porto helped us to a big win over in the 3-3-3 column a couple of weeks ago, so he’s in our good books, too.  

Look out for 17-year-old midfielder Geovany Quenda, who was recently called up to the national team for the first time.  

This is Sporting’s 11th appearance in the Champions League and third in the last four years so it’s not exactly new territory for them.  

Possible Lineup: Israel, Reis, Zebast, Inacio, Santos, Braganca, Hjumland, Quenda, Pote, Gyokeres, Trincao.  

Lille  

It’s been a good start for Lille, too. They overcame an ever-tricky tie against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce (winning 2-1 and drawing 1-1 away) and also got the better of Slavia Prague in the last qualifying round in another tight one: 2-0 at home and a 2-1 defeat at home. 

On the domestic front they won two and lost two. There was no disgrace in losing 3-1 at home to PSG, (curiously another result that helped that 3-3-3 column win as we need both teams to score) but a 1-0 defeat to struggling St Etienne was less excusable.  

Former Manchester United man Angel Gomes has been an important part of their early success, while Kosovo midfielder Edon Zhergrova has been their main source of goals with four in six.  

Possible Lineup:  Kinsky, Meunier, Zima, Ogbu, Diouf, Boril, Gomes, Andre, Zhegrova, Bayo, Haraldsson.  

Sporting CP vs Lille Odds

These two have only ever played once and it was so long ago that it’s of limited relevance. The Lisbon outfit won 1-0 at home and 2-1 away in the Europa League back in 2010.   

If when you look at the odds on offer and sort of make a nod of approval to yourself when seeing them (which I did), then it’s because they all look about right.   

The hosts are 8/11 after their perfect start to the season on the domestic front and that’s fair enough, though Porto aside, this will be their toughest match so far.  

A case could be made for them also on the basis that Lille have now lost their last three across one European and two domestic matches. Then again, they could afford to lose to Slavia Prague and still go through, PSG are the best side in France and perhaps they had one eye on this match when they lost to St Etienne.  

The draw at 11/4 is therefore not to be totally discounted but the 18/5 on the Lille win is of less interest.  

*You can check out all of the Football Odds we offer over at betfred.com

To win to Nil

A lot bigger than the straight Sporting win, is the home win to nil, priced at 9/5.  

It would have paid out in all of SCP’s last three matches (5-0, 2-0 and 3-0) and that means they’ve conceded just two all season in five games, which is impressive indeed.  

Lille are never the highest scorers at the best of times with part of the problem being that they don’t have a regular goalscorer upfront, with the goals they do score, being shared around. That at times can be a good thing but it does also mean that there’s no individual to (almost) bank on when you need one.  

This could easily be a tight 1-0 or it could be that Sporting win more comfortably but they may well keep a clean sheet in the process either way, and this is a far more appealing price than the home win.