Gent vs Valerenga Betting Tip Both teams to score – 22 July 2021

Gent may be made to work at home

Louis Fortin / Gent ©IMAGO / ANP 07/09/2021

BelgiumGent vs ValerengaNorway
22 July 1930hrs
Football – Europe – Europa Conference League qualifiers
Pick Both teams to score
Bookmaker Betway
Odds: 7/10 odds taken 2000 GMT, Wednesday 21 July

 

 

Gent are regular participants in the group stages of European competition and will be looking to take a step towards that goal when hosting Valerenga in the first leg on Thursday.

 

Bet at Betway

 

Gent Preview – Will Gent make home advantage count and get a first leg lead?

Hein Vanhaezebrouck returned to Gent in December for a second spell as manager having previously been at the club between 2014 and 2017. Vanhaezebrouck led Gent to their only league title in club history back in 2014/15 and then finished runners up the following year. An unsuccessful spell at Anderlecht followed but he’s now looking to steer Gent to more success.

Gent had a strong end to the season to finish top of the Europa Conference League mini-league in Belgium whose domestic championship splits into three. That in itself is an achievement for Vanhaezebrouck who overseen significant improvement resulting in them winning four and drawing one in that section. He’ll be hoping to build on that this season and get Gent challenging in the Championship group this time around.

 

Our betting prediction
Gent win/BTTS
(odds taken 2000 GMT, Tuesday 20 July)

This marks the club’s first step into competing in Europe after a disastrous Europa League campaign last season where they finished bottom of their group without getting a point. That is embarrassing for a club who are used to playing in Europe and they’ll be hoping to make up for that this time around.

Reinforcements have been brought in including Vakoun Bayo who has arrived from Celtic but played in France last season with Toulouse. He reached double figures in Ligue 2 and will be looking to get off the mark at the first time of asking for his new club.

Valerenga Preview – Are Valerenga capable of upsetting their hosts and returning to Norway with a lead?

It’s been a long time since Valerenga last had the chance of playing European football with their last participation being back in 2011. Dag-Eilev Fagermo is the man responsible for ending that drought having taken the club to third place in Norway’s top-flight last season. It was a performance founded in excellent home form where they remained unbeaten with 10 wins and five draws. They also had the second best defensive record.

They’re up there once again this season which is at the halfway mark. They’re currently fifth but just a couple of points off the European spots. Valerenga are not in the best of form however with no wins from their last three games.

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Vidar Kjartansson was their highest scorer last season with nine goals but he’s not played since May and will be unavailable for this one. There’s no doubt his presence has been missed. Aron Donnum has taken on more responsibility in the scoring department and has hit six goals in 10 league games, adding to the eight he got last season.

Valerenga have scored in all seven away games this season, managing 12 goals in those matches.

Gent vs Valerenga Betting Advice

Valerenga will hope to have an advantage over their more-fancied hosts due to the fact they are well into their domestic season whilst Gent are yet to start the league campaign, which incidentally gets underway at the weekend.

The winner of this game will feel they have a chance of getting to the playoff of the Conference League as they’ll face either RFS from Latvia or the Hungarians Puskas Academia.

 

Key Facts – Gent vs Valerenga Betting Tip

  • Gent finished bottom of their Europa League last season without collecting any points
  • Valerenga are competing in European competition for the first time since 2011
  • The winners of this game will face either RFS of Latvia or Puskas Academia from Hungary

 

Valerenga were built on a sound defence last season but they are scoring more regularly on their travels this time. Five of their seven away games have seen both teams finding the net. Considering this is Gent’s first competitive game of the campaign I like both teams to score here.

 

Best Betting Odds for Gent vs Valerenga

Gent: 9/20 at Betfred
Draw: 16/5 at Betfred
Valerenga: 9/2 at Betfred