Michael Lee is back with his top esports betting picks and betting previews for three VALORANT matches on Monday, September 5th. Today, he looks at the final group stage matches at VALORANT Champions 2022, including Fnatic vs FURIA, KRU Esports vs XERXIA Esports, and XSET vs FunPlus Phoenix.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday September 5th
Fnatic vs FURIA
VALORANT Champions 2022
Fnatic had a disappointing start to the tournament with a 1-2 loss against 100 Thieves, which puts them in a rough spot where one more defeat would spell elimination. Luckily, Fnatic likely won’t sweat too much ahead of their elimination match, as they’re getting ready to face FURIA, who are not considered a threat.
FURIA entered VALORANT Champions 2022 as one of the outsiders, and they’ve yet to prove they’re anything more than that. They looked good in the first group stage match, though, when they forced DRX to 30 rounds (14-16), but completely crumbled on Haven and lost 4-16.
In contrast, Fnatic did not look too bad in their series against 100 Thieves, and they had a realistic chance to win, but a poor performance on Haven (7-13) led to an inevitable defeat.
Fnatic are much stronger than FURIA, but they stumbled against 100 Thieves, which leads me to believe that Fnatic are not playing at 100% yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fnatic end up winning the VALORANT Champions 2022, but as seen in previous tournaments, Fnatic are slow starters.
Fnatic shouldn’t lose this game; if they do, something will have to go terribly wrong. But while I expect Fnatic to claim a much-needed win, I also don’t believe they’ll come away unharmed. Until I see better performance, I will believe that Fnatic can lose a map against a team like FURIA.
Prediction: FURIA +1.5 maps
$2.75 (1 unit)
KRU Esports vs XERXIA Esports
VALORANT Champions 2022
KRU Esports lost their Group C opening match against FunPlus Phoenix (0-2), but they played well. Despite losing against a much stronger team, KRU still won 12 and 10 rounds on Icebox and Bind, proving that they are not to be slept on.
XERXIA Esports looked equally as good in their round one loss on Saturday, when they had to admit defeat against XSET with 11-13 on Fracture and 10-13 on Icebox. But because FunPlus Phoenix are considered to be much stronger than XSET, many people won’t put too much emphasis on XERXIA’s strong performance.
XSET are viewed as a very weak team due to their disastrous performance at the last Masters event, but I would disagree with that. This is a very strong team, and sooner or later, they will prove that. But I’m not here to praise XSET but rather to make a point for XERXIA, who deserve some respect for reaching double digits against XSET.
Priced at $3.50, XERXIA are expected to struggle against KRU Esports, and that’s not too crazy to think, but they’ve shown enough for me to believe XERXIA Esports can win at least one map on Monday.
XERXIA Esports +1.5 maps
$1.80 (1 unit)
XSET vs FunPlus Phoenix
VALORANT Champions 2022
XSET and FunPlus Phoenix have never met before, but despite there being no past H2H results between the teams, I see no problem with esports bookmakers pricing FunPlus Phoenix as favourites. This is one of Europe’s top VALORANT teams, and their results speak for themselves.
FunPlus Phoenix won Masters Copenhagen in July, which is a solid indication of this team’s strength. They have also suffered just seven defeats since January, and four have come against Fnatic. FunPlus Phoenix have proven before that they can compete for big trophies, something XSET have failed to do this year.
But as said, XSET are much stronger than people give them credit for and are more capable of competing with the world’s top teams. In June, they won against OpTic in the VCT 2022: North America Stage 2 Challengers finals and were one of the top North American VALORANT teams throughout the season.
Are they good enough to defeat FunPlus Phoenix? Perhaps if FunPlus Phoenix stumble a bit, but even FPX play at the same pace as they have been over the last few weeks, XSET should be able to take a map off them.
XSET +1.5 maps
$1.72 (1 unit)
