TRENCIN v TORPEDO KUTAISI
Thursday 29th June 2017 – Kickoff: 1920hrs
Football – Europe – Europa League Betting Tips
The first qualifying round of the Europa League also starts this week, and my next pick features Slovakian side Trencin taking on Georgian outfit Torpedo Kutaisi with Trencin having first bite of the home advantage cherry at their Mestský futbalový štadión Na Sihoti.
Trencin qualified courtesy of second placed Slovan Bratislava winning the domestic cup, which left an empty berth for the Europa League qualifying round, so fourth placed Trencin filled that vacancy. Trencin won four of their last five home matches in their Super Liga run-in with wins registered against Ruzomberok, Zilina, Slovan Bratislava and Tatran Presov.
Trencin have won three of their ten Europa League ties to date which includes wins over IFK Gotenborg, Vojvodina and a 2-0 win at Rapid Vienna. They also held Hull City to a 0-0 draw at home a couple of seasons ago.
Visitors Torpedo Kutaisi have already qualified for next season’s Europa League as they finished second behind Dinamo Tbilisi, but they qualified this time around due to winning the domestic cup competition.
Prior to their last day defeat to the aforementioned Dinamo Tbilisi, Jutaisi had put together a seven match winning streak, but they were unable to make it eight, and Tbilisi were crowned Erovnuli Liga champions.
It’s been four seasons since Kutaisi have appeared in the Europa League, and their memories of their participation won’t be positive ones either as they failed to win any of their previous eight ties at this level, losing six of these.
Trencin should be the better equipped to progress through to the next qualifying round, and with home advantage here, I’ll back the hosts to record a win tonight.
Pick: Trencin to win @ 1.50 bet365
