Nice v Rangers: Back visitors to bank 7/2 draw

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·27. November 2024

Nice v Rangers: Back visitors to bank 7/2 draw

UEFA Europa League

Rangers boss Philippe Clement

OneFootball Videos

Rangers are enjoying Europe more than the SPL and can earn a draw away in Nice on Thursday, says Dave Tindall...

Nice finding domestic form but winless in Europe

Nice have been a hard team to get a handle on this season, their results a real mixture of wins, draws and losses.

The French side managed just two victories in their opening 11 games in all competitions and yet they were a 4-1 away success at Angers and an 8-0 home hammering of St Etienne when they were 6-0 up at half-time. A stat emerged later that Nice became the first team to score six first-half goals in a Ligue 1 game this century.

Their form has settled somewhat in the last month and they go into this one on a decent run of three wins and two draws (both 2-2) in their last five. That improved consistency has helped them move up to fifth in the French top-flight.

But Franck Haise's team have much work to do in this tournament. Two away games have brought defeat at Lazio (1-4) and Ferencvaros (0-1) while they've played out home draws against Real Sociedad (1-1) and FC Twente (2-2).

That meagre haul of two points from a possible 12 places them 31st of the 36 teams in the elongated Europa League table.

Rangers faring better in Europe than SPL

It's quite a scroll up from 31st to find Rangers in 10th and that suggests the Ibrox side are having a decent season.

That's certainly not the case domestically and due mainly to some terrible away form (three defeats out of five and just two goals scored) they trail leaders Celtic by 11 points and second-placed Aberdeen by eight. A 1-1 home draw with Dundee United last Saturday dampened the mood further.

Rangers have enjoyed some good times in Europe in the last few seasons and, to an extent, it's been a bit of a source of relief this time too.

They started out with a 2-0 win in Malmo, thrashed FCSB 4-0 at Ibrox and got a decent 1-1 draw away to Olympiakos. Only in the 4-1 Ibrox defeat at the hands of Lyon have Rangers fans felt any feelings of exasperation.

Nice odds-on for the win

Despite no wins in four attempts, Nice are odds-on at 4/5 to bank all three points. The Draw is 13/5 while Rangers are 16/5.

Based on their domestic away form that's right but do we judge Rangers differently in Europe as something seems to work better for Philippe Clement's side when they're on the road in this tournament?

Digging into Rangers' results a little deeper, they had 29 shots against Dundee United and, although it's somewhat modest, their current four-game unbeaten streak (two wins, two draws) is their longest run without defeat this season.

They've shipped just three goals in the last four matches while conceding just once in two away Europa League games is also noteworthy.

There's definitely a feeling that this tournament offers a welcome change of scene and a different vibe and that's the angle I'll play.

Scoring draw looks best

Nice have pressure on them which further helps Rangers so I'm definitely veering towards the draw.

Take out the 4-1 defeat at Europa League leaders Lazio and Nice's last 10 results show six draws and four games settled by a single goal.

It's a similar story with Rangers. They have two draws in their last three and and their other four games in the last month have all been either won or lost by the minimum margin.

In addition, every Nice game this season has seen at least one goal while Rangers haven't played out a 0-0 since the opening game of the campaign in August.

Therefore, I'll back Draw and Over 1.5 Goals at 7/2.

For a Bet Builder, only one Nice player has more than two goals in Ligue 1 this season and that's Evan Guessand with six in 12 matches.

As for Rangers, Cyriel Dessers is back in the goals again after enduring a poor spell in which he fired blanks in 11 games out of 12.

The Nigerian forward has three in four and that includes the equaliser in Olympiakos.

A goalscorer double on Guessand and Dessers on the Bet Builder pays just under 10/1.