The race for places in Champions League group stages is hotting up with the second qualifying round set to take place this midweek. There will be no less than 11 match-ups on Tuesday and our betting experts have made their picks to help improve your winning chances.

17:00 Ulisses (Arm) vs Sheriff (Mol)
Pick: Away win
Odds: 2.38 (11/8) at Stan James

Armenian champions Ulisses currently sit in sixth place in the overall standings with just 16 points from 15 games and they clearly look much weaker than last season. Sheriff Tiraspol, on the other hand, have boosted their ranks with a number of high-quality players and they should have no problems winning this game.

17:45 Flora (Est) vs Basel (Swi)
Pick: Basel with -1 European handicap
Odds: 1.95 (19/20) at Sportingbet

Having been eliminated from minnows Shamrock Rovers last term, Flora don’t have much to hope for before the clash with Basel. The Swiss champions have started their league campaign with a win over Servette and they look to be in very good condition at the moment.

18:00 HJK Helsinki (Fin) vs KR Reykjavyk (Ice)
Pick: Under 2.5 goals
Odds: 2.20 (6/5) at Stan James

Helsinki may be seen as hot favourites by the online bookmakers, but the Finnish champions could have problems breaking their defence-minded opponents. Helsinki are winless in last five games and will be without two important players, whereas KR will try to concede as little as possible, so there is every chance we will see a low-scoring game.

18:00 Neftchi (Aze) vs Zestafoni (Geo)
Pick: Home win
Odds: 2.20 (6/5) at BetVictor

Azeri champions Neftchi have been pretty convincing at home in their European games, beating the likes of FH Hafnarfjordur and Anderlecht, while sharing spoils with CSKA Moscow and Dinamo Zagreb, so they are expected to continue the good run against Zestafoni, a team that stayed without three key players in the summer.

18:30 F91 Dudelange (Lux) vs Salzburg (Aus)
Pick: Salzburg with -1 European handicap
Odds: 1.95 (19/20) at Stan James

F91 Dudelange did well to achieve an 11-0 aggregate victory over Tre Penne in the first round, but they will have their work cut out for them when facing Red Bull Salzburg. The Austrian champions have won all their friendly game in pre-season while beating Wiener SK in Austrian Cup and they already look on top of their game.

19:00 Slovan Liberec (Cze) vs Shakhter Karagandy (Kaz)
Pick: Under 3.5 goals
Odds: 1.65 (13/20) at BetVictor

With the start of their league campaign still a couple of weeks away, Slovan Liberec could find it hard to carve out chances against a team that are in great form at the moment. Shakhter’s domestic season is in full swing, meaning they are fitter than their opponents at the moment and that should help them avoid a heavy defeat in Liberec.

19:30 Zilina (Slo) vs Hapoel Ironi Kiryat (Isr)
Pick: Draw
Odds: 3.25 (9/4) at Bodog

The match between Slovakian and Israeli champions looks to be too close to call seeing that the two sides are pretty evenly matched. Both sides have been very hard to beat last season, and I could see this game ending all squared.

20:15 The New Saints (Wal) vs Helsingborg (Swe)
Pick: Away win
Odds: 1.50 (1/2) at William Hill

With over a month to go before the start of their league campaign, Welsh champions TNS look completely unprepared for the clash against the best Swedish side. Helsingborg have been in scintillating form after the summer break and they are now set to face a team much weaker than those they are facing every week in the Swedish Allsvenskan.

20:30 Skenderbeu Korce (Alb) vs Debrecen (Hun)
Pick: Away win
Odds: 1.91 (10/11) at William Hill

Skenderbeu Korce somehow managed to win the Albanian league for the second time in a row but they don’t look nearly good enough to match the best side from Hungary. With their captain absent and the pre-season training having just began, the hosts could find it hard to get something from this game. Debrecen have reinforced their squad with excellent striker Ibrahima Sidibe and they look like hot favourites in this one.

20:45 Valletta (Mal) vs Partizan (Ser)
Pick: Partizan with -1 European handicap
Odds: 1.95 (19/20) at Sportingbet

Valletta largely impressed against weak Lusitanos in the first round, but this will be a whole different ball game. Serbian champions are even stronger than last season when they narrowly missed out on a place in the Champions League group stages and they are expected to record a comfortable victory in Malta.

21:00 Shamrock Rovers (Irl) vs Ekranaes (Lit)
Pick: Home win
Odds: 1.73 (8/11) at Ladbrokes

After reaching the Europa League group stages, Shamrock Rovers can be trusted to beat weak Ekranas, especially as the Irish side should be much fitter than their opponents with their domestic campaign in full swing. The Lithuanian side have seen their key players leave because of serious financial problems and they seem to be falling apart at the moment.