LPL 2023 Spring betting tips & odds – Thursday, February 16

The fifth week of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) continues on Thursday as Royal Never Give Up take on FunPlus Phoenix and Weibo Gaming clash with Top Esports. See our predictions and best bets for the day’s action.

The first series of the day will see two rosters that have struggled throughout the LPL Spring split so far. Royal Never Give Up currently sit in 14th place with a 2-4 record, while FunPlus Phoenix are in 15th place with a 1-4 record.

Before winning their last series against Team WE, Royal Never Give Up were on a four-series losing streak after being defeated by Invictus Gaming, LNG Esports, EDward Gaming and JD Gaming. Even though RNG now sit in 14th position on the LPL table, there record is somewhat misleading as they have played four of the top five teams in the LPL so far, with those four teams recording four losses between them this split. RNG showed that they still have the quality to keep up with the top teams in their victory over Team WE, where Chen “GALA” Wei dominated the three-map series, recording a massive 19.5 KDA. Now that RNG have played the top teams in the LPL, we expect to see them on the right side of the ledger in the majority of their series in the coming weeks.

FunPlus Phoenix have struggled this split, recording only one series win over Ultra Prime three series back, before losing their next two matches to Weibo Gaming and Invictus Gaming. Even though both FPX and RNG have been struggling, RNG have the quality to get themselves out of the bottom few, whereas FPX are playing with a relatively new line-up who are trying to work things out. For FPX, this series should still be one that they should believe that they can win and it wouldn’t surprise us if they took it to a third and deciding map, however, RNG should overpower them and prove too strong.

Considering both teams are struggling, it is hard to see this series not going to three maps. FPX have gone to three maps in three of their five series, while RNG went the distance in their last series against Team WE; therefore, we will be taking the +110 odds on offer with BetOnline.

The second match of the day will feature ninth-placed Team WE and fourth-placed LNG Esports.

Team WE started their Spring split one somewhat of a roll, winning two of their first three matches over FunPlus Phoenix and ThunderTalk Gaming, whilst losing to EDward Gaming. After finishing at the bottom of the table for the LPL Summer 2022 split with zero wins and 16 losses, WE’s start to this split is a massive improvement with three wins and three losses already locked in through six matches. Any favourable result for Team WE for the rest of this split should only be seen as a positive and they should be happy with the improvement they have shown. There is no doubt that they can push for the bottom playoffs spots in the second half of the split.

LNG Esports had been one of the best teams in the LPL before their shock loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas, which was their first loss of the split. LNG won their first four series against ThunderTalk Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, Rare Atom and Oh My God, only losing one map in those four victories. With a close 2-1 victory over OMG two series back and another close series where they lost 1-2 to NiP, there could be some worries going through the LNG camp about a slight form slump. This series against Team WE is massive for LNG, as a win could send them to the top of the table, but a loss could see them slip out of the top four.

As mentioned above, this series is a non-negotiable for LNG. However, Team WE will be no push over, so we expect to see a tight series that goes the distance to three maps.


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