Thursday’s VALORANT Champions betting tips – September 8, 2022

The group stage of the Valorant Champions 2022 will finish off with the decider matches for Group C and D this Thursday. These are eSportBet’s top picks for the FunPlus Phoenix vs KRU Esports and 100 Thieves vs Fnatic best-of-three series, where the winners will qualify for the playoffs.

The first series of the day for the VCT Champions 2022 will be between FunPlus Phoenix and KRU Esports. FPX beat KRU in their opening match 2-0 in what was one of the tightest series we have seen so far at the tournament.

FunPlus Phoenix entered the VCT Champions 2022 as the bookmakers’ favourite, and after their first 2-0 win, anyone that took them to win the tournament would have been very happy with their performance. However, there was a case of sickness that went through the whole FPX roster, which postponed their winners’ match against XSET by a day, but they were lacking the preparation and lost 1-2 to the Group C winners. If the FPX roster that turned up to Istanbul is now back in action, they will be very tough to beat here.

KRU Esports didn’t start the tournament how they would have liked with a 0-2 defeat to FPX, but they were then quick to get back on the right foot with a 2-1 win in their do-or-die elimination match against XERXIA. Even though KRU lost to FPX in the opening match, the series was tight with the first map going into overtime (14-12). Whilst during the second map, KRU actually had the lead at half-time before going down 10-13 in the end. KRU will take a lot of positives out their second series win and will still be confident that they can take down FPX after their close series.

This series will be another tight clash with two teams who know each other well. The smart money is on the over 2.5 maps.

The final series of the group stage will have 100 Thieves clashing with Fnatic for the final spot in the playoffs, with the Group D decider giving us a rematch of the three-map thriller these two played in the opening round.

100 Thieves entered the VCT Champions 2022 as the third-ranked North American team and many had them getting through Group D to the playoffs. However, since their agonising loss to DRX in the winners’ match, they are now faced with a group-stage exit if they cannot beat Fnatic here.

The North Americans were very good in their opening match against Fnatic, and even though the series was a close one, they always looked the better team. If 100 Thieves are to win this match and get into the playoffs, they will be need to be even better, as Fnatic will be using everything they learnt in the first loss to try and flip the script here.

Fnatic also entered the VCT Champions 2022 as a high seed, being the second-ranked team out of Europe and the fourth favourite with most esports betting sites. Fnatic were able to steal the second map in their last contest with 100 Thieves on Bind (13-7), but they were definitely the second best team all series.

The Europeans were very good in their bounce-back match, beating FURIA Esports 2-1 in a series where Fnatic went down 1-0 and had to win two maps in a row to take out the series. Fnatic can’t let 100 Thieves get a free map early on in this series and they will be well aware of this, so we should be seeing the best of Fnatic throughout this clash.

With Fnatic going all the way to three maps in both of their series so far, it is easy to make a case that this series is destined for another three maps, so that is where our money will be going.


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