Sports Blog 23/07/2015: Match Preview – Europa League Second Qualifying Round 2nd Leg, Thursday 23rd July 2015

It’s time for the 2nd leg of the second round of Europa League qualifying, and three British sides are still in the running to enter the competition proper.

First up sees a trip to the Mediterranean for West Ham, who take on the Maltese Premier League’s bronze medallists Birkirkana. The Hammers couldn’t quite muster the same form against Birkirkana as they did in their first round home leg against Lusitanos, where they won 3-0. Instead they had to rely on a 90th minute winner from defender James Tomkins (who somewhat against the odds has 2 goals so far in West Ham’s European adventure). It’s not the kind of victory East London’s finest would have wanted, and though the narrow advantage means that if they can nab an away goal they should realistically be set for the third round of qualifying, it still leaves plenty of room for upset.



It also means that Slaven Bilic has to take a stronger side to Malta that he would have liked. Frustratingly Diafra Sakho is out through suspension, as is Dimitri Payet, who got a brace against Southend in his debut last weekend. Yet even without those two stars West Ham should be able to overcome a team that couldn’t manage a single shot on target in the first leg. This understandably leaves the Hammers at a West Ham/Birkirkana (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 1.55-1.75, with a Total Goals spread of 2.8-3.

West Ham fans will have a vested interest in the outcome of the next match, as the Hammers (should) face either Astra Giurgiu or Inverness CT in the third round. Inverness, despite their 3rd place Scottish Premiership finish guaranteeing them a first qualifying round clash, managed to jump in at the next stage due to their victory in the Scottish Cup. The reasons for Astra skipping the first round are a bit more complicated; though they finished 4th due to their head-to-head record with the 3rd place CFR Cluj, the fact that Cluj filed for insolvency (with the 24 point deduction delayed until the conclusion of proceedings) meant they couldn’t get a UEFA license, leaving Astra as the 2nd of Romania’s 3 Europa League entries.



Anyway, with all those complications out of the way the boys of Astra Giurgiu had a rather successful Scottish holiday last Thursday, with a first half goal from Constantin Budescu enough to leave the Romanian side not only with a slender one goal lead, but an important away goal advantage. Astra actually have some past Europa League form; last season they managed to overcome Lyon in the play-off round, only to come bottom of a group that contained Red Bull Salzburg, Celtic and Dinamo Zagreb. In contrast last week’s 1st leg was Inverness’ European debut, and that lack of experience perhaps showed in their defeat. With that away goal in the bag, Astra should be confident of a home win, and sit at a Astra Giurgiu/Inverness Goal Supremacy spread of 1-1.2 with a Total Goals spread of 2.5-2.7.

Last season’s Scottish Premiership runners-up Aberdeen did, unlike Inverness, have to endure the first round of qualifying, and weren’t exactly emphatic in their progress. A 1-1 draw against FK Shkendija in Macedonia and a 0-0 draw at home meant that Aberdeen snuck through on a solitary away goal, in the process setting up their second round match against Rijeka. The Croatian side, for what’s worth, entered at the second round after finishing as (distant) runners-up to Dinamo Zagreb in the Prva HNL.



The 1st leg, which was Aberdeen’s first European match since their 8-1, 2 leg demolition by Sigma Olomouc back in the 2009/10 Europa League qualifying, saw the Scottish side look far more comfortable than they did against Shkendija, winning 3-0 and leaving them with little to do in their home leg. With the winner set to face either Kazakhstan’s Kaorat or Armenia’s Alashkert, our Spreadex traders narrowly fancy the Croatian side to nab a potentially useless victory, at a Rijeka/Aberdeen (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.25-0.45 and a Total Goals spread of 2.6-2.8.

Make sure to check Spreadex for all the latest fixed odds and spread betting opportunities for all of 2015/16’s European games!