by After hitting two of our League of Legends European Championship (LEC) picks for last Friday, Esportbet returns with another set of betting predictions for this week’s action. Here are our best bets and top odds for three LEC 2021 Summer games played on Friday, July 23.
SCHALKE 04 ESPORTS vs EXCEL ESPORTS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| LoL Betting Odds: | S04 -125 at BetOnline | Excel -106.38 at BetOnline |
| When: | July 23, 2021 at 18:00 CEST |
| Watch Live: | YouTube, Lolesports |
Schalke 04 Esports enter this match with a 23% win rate (3-10) on the summer season and a five-game losing streak. That run includes defeats against Astralis, SK Gaming, MAD Lions, Rogue, and Misfits Gaming.
Excel Esports have managed a slightly better 31% win rate (4-9) this term; however, they’re without a win across the last two round robins, with losses against MAD Lions, Fnatic, Misfits and SK Gaming.
The esports bookmakers have this match at close to even money, which makes sense if you consider only the teams’ form, but there’s more to it. Unlike Schalke 04, who got completely obliterated in their losses, Excel have looked at least somewhat decent and kept their last four outings relatively close.
Excel are a fairly young and inexperienced team, which shows in their lacklustre mid-late game and struggles in closing out games. Regardless, Schalke 04 seem like they’ve mentally bombed and look like a complete mess in all areas of the game. Excel Esports might have their issues, but they’re a much more stable team than S04.
Excel Esports to win
TEAM VITALITY vs MISFITS GAMING LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| LoL Betting Odds: | Vitality +113 at BetOnline | Misfits -149.25 at BetOnline |
| When: | July 23, 2021 at 19:00 CEST |
| Watch Live: | YouTube, Lolesports |
Team Vitality are priced as +113 underdogs for Friday’s match, which seems a bit high in our book. Vitality might be 5-8 on the season and 1-3 across their last four outings; however, the Bees had to face Fnatic, G2 Esports and MAD Lions across the last two round robins.
Misfits Gaming are 9-4 and on a two-game losing streak, although they’re 3-3 in their last six outings with wins against G2 Esports, Excel, and Schalke 04. Misfits Gaming’s record is better, but it’s also slightly inflated due to their early-season success when they secured six wins from the opening seven rounds.
These two LEC teams seem fairly evenly matched, and while Vitality might look much worse in their losses, they also show a lot more in their wins – which has to do with their all-or-nothing playstyle. This match is very close to a 50/50, so we don’t have to think twice before siding with Team Vitality.
Team Vitality to win
MAD LIONS vs ASTRALIS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| LoL Betting Odds: | MAD -400 at BetOnline | Astralis +271 at BetOnline |
| When: | July 23, 2021 at 20:00 CEST |
| Watch Live: | YouTube, Lolesports |
Astralis managed only one win in their last four outings; however, they had to face four of the top-five teams in the league in G2 Esports, Fnatic, Rogue, and Misfits Gaming, who they beat during LEC 2021 Summer Week 5.
MAD Lions are 3-1 in their last four, which looks good on paper; however, their opponents were Schalke 04, SK Gaming, Excel Esports, and Team Vitality – the bottom four teams in the LEC.
Form-wise, MAD Lions are in a better spot than Astralis, and you could argue that they field better players, but the gap between these two teams is not nearly as high as the latest LoL betting odds would suggest. Astralis have done well against top teams before, and even in their losses, they’ve managed to keep the score tight.
Astralis might have lost most of their games on the season, but they’re a very resilient squad, so we have to take their side with an 8.5 kill head-start.
