Southampton, Dortmund, Bordeaux, Lech Poznan in EL Banker Acca

If ever there were an acca to take, this is the one. Heavy odds-on favourites in their respective Europa League play-off first leg games Southampton, Borussia Dortmund, Bordeaux and Lech Poznan are 9/4 all to win on Thursday night.

The Saints welcome FC Midtjylland to St Mary’s, German giants BVB travel to Norwegian outfit Odd BK, Willy Sagnol’s Girondins host Kazakh club Kairat and the Polish champions entertain Videoton.

Here are more reasons to back this brilliant Banker bet…

Southampton v FC Midtjylland
Ronald Koeman’s men are becoming a force back in the Premier League, and have a fantastic chance to make it through to the Europa League group stage as just Danish side Midtjylland stand in their way.

The Saints are odds-on favourites at 3/10 to win the first leg, and can count on the likes of Graziano Pelle (21/20 to score anytime) and Sadio Mane (13/8) to help give them a good lead going into the reverse fixture.

Odd BK v Borussia Dortmund
It is fair to say that Dortmund are out of this league, but have to take part in this competition for the season due to their poor first half of the 2014/15 Bundesliga campaign.

They have looked back to their best this term, smashing Borussia Monchengladbach in their top-flight opener 4-0, so are heavily odds-on at 1/5 to beat Odd, who only finished third in the Tippeligaen, too.

Bordeaux v Kairat
Ligue 1 outfit Bordeaux, managed by France legend Sagnol, have been handed a simple task against minnows Kairat, and are odds-on at 4/11 to beat them at home.

The side from Kazakhstan are yet to qualify for a main draw of any major European competition, which is why they are so unfancied here against 1995/96 UEFA Cup runners-up the Girondins.

Lech Poznan v Videoton
Partly famous for their fans’ ‘Poznan’ goal celebration, which Manchester City supporters have now adopted, the Railwayman, as the club are nicknamed, are odds-on favourites at 2/5 to defeat Hungarian side Videoton.