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No clean sheet in French Play-off
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Atalanta to complete a fine campaign
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Venezia to remain too strong at home
The second leg of the French Promotion/Relegation Play-off takes place this afternoon, with the Ligue Two club, St Etienne, holding a 2-1 lead.
The first leg defeat for Metz was their fifth on the bounce, and while I can't see them turning the tie around, I am opting to play in the goal markets.
Both teams to score backers collected at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Thursday, and today's hosts have kept just one home clean sheet since the turn of November. Six of their last seven here have ended with both teams scoring, and the visitors won't risk sitting back to just defend such a slender lead.
This Serie A fixture had to be rearranged for after the proper end of the season, and while it could potentially have had implications for next year's European competitions, that didn't turn out to be the case.
Fiorentina travel to Atalanta knowing that whatever the result in Bergamo, they will finish eighth. Given that lack of motivation, and last week's extra-time heartbreak in the Europa Conference League Final, I make the hosts a pretty good bet.
Atalanta won their European Final the week prior, and they followed it up with a 3-0 thumping of Torino, which I personally wasn't expecting. They have already qualified for the Champions League, but they can still go above Juventus into third with a victory this evening, and that would be a bit of a feather in their caps.
Two teams fighting to be playing the likes of Atalanta and Fiorentina next season are Venezia and US Cremonense, as they resume battle in the Serie B Play-off Final tonight.
The first leg in Cremona finished goalless last week, and that strikes me as a missed opportunity for Cremonense. Venezia were a winning machine at home during the regular campaign - recording victories in 13 of their 19 - which was the highest home win percentage in the division.
Admittedly the visitors won more away matches than they did in front of their own fans during the season, but they lost here as recently as late April, and Venezia should be able to sneak into the top flight.
Back Atalanta & Venezia to Win, and BTTS in Metz v St Etienne