AIK v SHAMROCK ROVERS
Thursday 19th July 2018 – Kickoff: 1900hrs
Football – Europe – Europa League Betting Tips
Swedish club, AIK, continued their impressive season when they secured a 1-0 lead away at Irish Premier League club, Shamrock Rovers, in last week’s first leg of this first round qualifier in the Champions League.
They now return to their Friends Arena in Stockholm where they’ll be looking to make sure of their place in the next qualifying round of this competition, but there’s still plenty left to do for the hosts as a single goal margin can be a very fragile commodity.
However, AIK are in great form right now as they come into this clash on the back of a four match winning streak which includes wins against Flora Tallinn (pre-season friendly), Allsvenskan wins over Trelleborg and GIF Sundsvall, along with last week’s win in Ireland.
AIK are also sitting pretty at the top of the Swedish top flight, as they still remain unbeaten on home turf which has been built around a solid defensive unit that has kept four clean sheets from their six league matches to date.
Shamrock Rovers will have been pleased by their efforts in last week’s narrow first leg defeat at their Tallaght Stadium despite ending up a goal down heading into this second leg in Stockholm. The Irish club fought bravely but just couldn’t make the breakthrough, and their job now becomes a lot harder in AIK’s backyard on Thursday night.
Shamrock have now lost three of their last four matches overall, and with just two wins from their last nine matches overall n the Europa League, as well as just one away win from their last eight ties on their travels at this level, they’ll do well to get out of this predicament.
With just three clean sheets from their 12 away matches played in total in the Europa League, this could be a determining factor in the outcome of this second leg.
Pick: AIK AH-1.25 @ 1.67 Bet Victor
