The highlight of Thursday’s football schedule comes courtesy of the Europa League play-off second leg matches and it should be a thrilling climax to the qualification process. After smashing last night’s treble at 5/1 we’re in a confident mood of adding to that with a quickfire double up of wins.
All teams will be desperate for goals as they look to seal their respective places in the group phase. We’re backing these six clubs to all find the target at some stage. With odds of just under 4/1, it has to be worth a midweek punt.
Good luck!
Jabonlec V Ajax. 5PM
Frank de Boer’s Ajax are nothing like the side that he helped win the 1994/95 Champions League, but they do enter the second leg of this Europa League play-off with a 1-0 advantage. Nonetheless, the Amsterdam club shouldn’t expect to have everything their own way at the Chance Arena.
However, an early away goal would put the tie firmly in Ajax’s favour and the Dutch club will be eager to get it at the earliest stage possible. Confidence will be high after four consecutive victories. They should find the target, but we’re also hoping that they won’t register a fifth straight shutout.
Those four clean sheets might deter some punters. On the other hand, Ajax conceded twice in their Champions League trip to Vienna while Jabonlec have been involved in two straight BTTS winners in the Czech Liga.
The hosts know they have to score, and will have the home crowd to spur them on. Even if they do find the target, it could be in vain as the visitors should grab a couple of their own.
BTTS Yes @ 8/11
FC Thun V Sparta Prague . 6:30PM
Despite taking just five minutes to open the scoring in last week’s away leg, Swiss side FC Thun enter Thursday’s return clash trailing by three goals to one. Quite frankly, the hosts have no option but to attack at the Stockhorn Arena.
Ciriaco Sforza’s men haven’t started the new season in great form, but strikers Roman Buess and Simone Rapp are more than capable of causing problems for the visitors. The fact Sparta can afford to concede at least once could also give the hosts an increased chance of scoring.
Nonetheless, Sparta were very dominant last week and should have no trouble finding the target here. The visitors have notched 19 in their past seven competitive fixtures and will be looking to veteran striker David Lafata for inspiration in Switzerland.
It would be a huge surprise if Zdenk Scasny’s side don’t progress, but we still fancy the home side to score too.
BTTS Yes @ 4/5
Vojvodina V Viktoria Plzen. 7:30PM
Our final selection comes from the Stadion Karadorde, where Viktoria Plzen are probably just one goal away from absolutely sealing their place in the Europa League group phase.
The Czech visitors claimed a 3-0 win in last week’s home leg, and Karel Krejci’s men should have more than enough quality to get on the scoresheet here. After all, they have scored nine goals in their past four competitive matches alone.
Zlatomir Zagorcic’s men have scored seven goals in their past two home games, although it is worth noting they’ve conceded in both those matches too. The first leg deficit means that they’ve got no option but to attack, which could be a huge help to both parts of this bet.
The outcome of the tie may be pretty much sealed, but either team could potentially win this second leg. We’re backing both teams to score.
BTTS Yes @ 8/11
A £10 treble returns £49.72
