Viktoria Plzeň
V
Doosan Arena
15/03/2018 | 6:00 pm
Sporting Lisbon
V
Doosan Arena
15/03/2018 | 6:00 pm
Viktoria Plzen vs Sporting Lisbon Betting Tips, Preview & Predictions
In a sentence: Viktoria Plzen will be attempting to turn around a two goal deficit as they welcome Liga NOS side Sporting to the Doosan Arena.
Last time: A game that followed the football predictions handbook, two goals either side of half-time from Sporting striker Fredy Montero gave the Portuguese side a priceless first leg lead in this Europa League tie.
This time: The odds in this Europa League preview are 17/10 for a Plzen win, with a Sporting victory at 8/5 and the draw 9/4.
You might remember: Sporting Lisbon finished runners-up in this competition back in 2004/05, when losing in their own stadium to CSKA Moscow.
Team News
Viktoria Plzeň's Last Six:
Won: 1 Drawn: 3 Lost: 2
Plzen made a few changes for their weekend draw with Slovan Liberec with this return leg in mind. David Limbersky is suspended for the game in Portugal after receiving a booking in last week’s game. Marian Cisovsky remains out due to injury.
Sporting Lisbon's Last Six:
Won: 4 Drawn: 1 Lost: 1
Sporting manager Jorge Jesus has a selection headache ahead of Thursday’s game. Bruno Cesar was forced off with injury in Monday’s win over Chaves. Andre Pinto, Cristiano Piccini, Seydou Doumbia, Rafael Leao and Daniel Podence are all expected to miss out, while Fabio Coentrao is in doubt and William Carvalho and Sebastian Coates are suspended. Striker Bas Dost is available after his injury though.
Betting Tips & Predictions
However, none of the opposition the Czech side have faced at the Doosan Arena have had the quality of their visitors on Thursday. Sporting have had their troubles on the road in Europe, losing six of their last nine away fixtures. An away victory against FC Astana in this competition last time out will give them a boost of confidence though. The Lions are 8/5 to record a second consecutive away Europa League win.
Sporting are vastly experienced in comparison to their hosts, having competed in seven of the last nine UEFA Europa League campaigns, and having qualified on 20 occasions from 30 European ties in which they have led after the first leg in Lisbon.
Europa League predications are tough to call with the heavy schedule, but the home side will have to push for a win and with the visitors technical quality the draw at 9/4 looks a good option.
With both goals in last week’s fixture, Freddy Montero is 13/2 to score the game’s first again this time. Michal Krmencik is favourite for the home side to score first, with the striker priced at 6/1.
Predicted Score: Viktoria Plzeň 2 - 2 Sporting Lisbon
Match Summary
1
Look out for:
Bas Dost. He made a goalscoring return to the side on Monday night as he rose off the bench to bag two goals and his team the three points. Dost will be in hunt for more come Thursday, and he is is 5/1 to score first, 13/8 to net anytime, and 9/1 to score two or more.
2
We fancy:
Over 2.5 goals at 21/20 is a free football betting tip to take advantage of. With Viktoria needing goals they will have to take risks and Sporting have the attackers to take advantage.
3
It’s a long shot, but:
Football score predictions are usually well-priced due to the difficulty in predicting the exact result. A correct score of 2-2 bet is 12/1, rising to 55/1 with Bruno Fernandes – who has three goals in his last three Europa League games – as the first scorer.
Written by
Elio Salerno is a Peterborough-based family man, Juventus fanatic, football coach and football obsessive. A serial tweeter, Elio counts Alessandro Del Piero’s World Cup 2006 goal against Germany as his favourite in the sport’s history.