LIEPAJA v HACKEN
Thursday 12th July 2018 – Kickoff: 1705hrs
Football – Europe – Europa League Betting Tips
Latvian outfit, Liepaja, will play host to Swedish Allsvenskan side, Hacken, when the two teams meet in the first qualifying round first leg at the Stadions Daugava on Thursday evening in this two-legged affair.
Liepaja currently sit in third place in the Latvian Virsliga, but some nine points off the league leaders, Rigas, following a few ordinary results in the Latvian top flight; back-to-back (and heavy) defeats at home to Rigas 5-3 and a 4-1 loss to Ventspils have held them back from mounting a serious challenge for the title and the accompanying Champions League qualifying spot.
Liepaja also possess limited experience at Europa League level as they’ve played just four matches, which have ended in two wins and two defeats, so there’s little to go by in terms of previous pedigree at this level.
Visitors, Hacken, on the other hand, have had a fair amount of exposure at Europa League level although not all of it very positive as the Swedish side have lost three of their last four Europa ties with defeats to FC Thun (home and away) and Cork City, in recent times.
The Swedish Allsvenskan side currently sit in a disappointing eighth place, but at the end of the last campaign, they finished in a creditable fourth place which earned them a place in these Europa League qualifiers.
Recent defeats to Malmo and Ostersunds along with a draw against AIK have slowed down their progress in their bid to climb up the Allsvenskan league ladder, but they did bounce back recently with a resounding 3-0 home win over GIF Sundsvall.
Hacken forward, Gurreiro (7 goals) is the one to watch for the visitors, not only for his goals but also his assists as he turned provider on a couple of occasions in the recent win over Sundsvall.
I think both teams have a good chance of scoring in this first leg.
Pick: Both teams to score @ 1.90 Unibet
