Anderlecht vs Slavia Praha Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Slavia Praha are, unfortunately, a club in decline. Seven years have passed since Slavia Praha last won the Czech First League, and eight years have passed since they qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time. Praha’s fifth place finish last season represents their best finish since said monumental title win in 2009, and their performances in the Europa League so far have been far from impressive. Praha have qualified through the second and third qualifying rounds thanks only to the away goal rule, drawing 3-3 against Levadia and 1-1 against Rio Ave FC on aggregate respectively. Trailing 3-0 on aggregate as they come into the second leg, Slavia Praha are huge underdogs to progress much further in this competition.

In contrast, Anderlecht are a thriving team who are the most successful team in Belgium, not just domestically, but also in European competition. Though all of their European silverware comes from the late 1970’s, Anderlecht continue to be a prominent name in European football today. Whether it’s in the Champions League or the Europa League, they are always intimidating competition. Anderlecht find themselves this time around in the Europa League playoffs after a disappointing 4-2 aggregate defeat to Russian side Rostov in the Champions League. The Belgians look on track to replicate and improve upon their 2015/2016 Europa League round of 16 run with a dominating performance in the first leg.

Anderlecht are now four matches into their domestic league campaign and, unlike their opponents, seem to be on track for another season as a title challenging side. Slavia Praha have barely shown that they are capable of Europa League football by scraping through the earlier stages and, as such, Anderlecht remain a decent price to take another win here at 8/11. However, we feel that for this second leg fixture the market for “both teams to score” is slightly more tempting. Anderlecht have kept just one clean sheet from their last five competitive home matches, a problem that hasn’t been too detrimental, given that they have been scoring the goals to keep them one step ahead. For example in their last home match where they won 5-1 against fellow Belgian side Kortrijk. Meanwhile, even though Slavia Praha squandered some decent chances last match and were notably average throughout the competition, they have scored at least one goal in four of their last five away matches.

With Anderlecht defending a 3-0 aggregate lead, they shouldn’t have much incentive to push for another win here. Hence, we feel that both teams to score at 5/6 and a 1-1 draw at 6/1 are both decent priced bets for this match.