Akhisar Belediyespor vs Standard Liege Predictions

Akhisar Belediye have lost all of their five group games in the Europa League this season, so can’t qualify for the knockout stage whatever their result at home to Belgium’s Standard Liege on Thursday. The visitors sit third in the table, but could still qualify from Group J if they better Sevilla’s result against Krasnodar.

Akhisar Belediye might not have dominated the overall possession or corners won statistics when they played host to Fenerbahce on Sunday, but they did run out 3-0 winners and send their guests into the relegation zone. A twenty-sixth minute strike from Bokila handed Belediye a half time lead, and further goals late on for Manu and Regattin saw the Turkish giants defeated and deflated.

Standard Liege aren’t having the best of season and currently lie eighth in the Belgian top flight following a 1-1 draw away at Sint-Truiden. The hosts remain above Standard in the Belgian First Division A table and took the lead in first half stoppage time through Japanese midfielder Kamada. The visitors responded in the second half and equalise just short of the hour mark thanks to a goal from Oularé, and on the balance of play Liege will have been disappointed not to win the game.

When Standard Liege played host to Akhisar Belediye in early October the two teams put on a decent display in the first half, but failed to replicate that during the second forty-five as the game petered out. Emond gave Standard the lead in the seventeenth minute, but Ayık equalised for the Turks shortly after the half hour mark. Standard restored their advantage seven minutes after being pegged back, and Djenepo’s goal proved enough to win the game. The only real talking point of the second half was the sending-off of Akhisar Belediye centre back Yumlu for a second bookable offence with eight minutes left on the clock.

Ayık is the only player to have scored more than once in the Europa League for the hosts this season, but Akhisar Belediye have struggled in front of goal with just four goals scored their five games so far and Ayık has two of them. Djenepo scored the winner when the two sides last met and top scores for Standard with three Europa League goals this season. Standard having been high scorers themselves, netting seven goals in the group stage so far and with that in mind we’re not expecting a high scoring game on Thursday.

We’re confident that Standard will win to nil on Thursday, and have backed the final score to end 1-0. The visitors have won three of their last five matches and kept three clean sheets in each of those victories. The hosts have lost three of their last six and have found goals hard to come by in Europe and are yet to take a single point from any of their five group games.