AZ Alkmaar vs Celtic Predictions

• AZ have won their last seven competitive home games.
• Celtic have only won one of their last nine away matches in all competitions.
• Celtic have scored in all ten of their competitive matches this season.

AZ to hit back at AFAS Stadion

AZ Alkmaar have made the cut for the Europa League group stages in each of the past two seasons but after a 2-0 defeat in Glasgow the Eredivisie outfit face a mammoth task to turn this tie around.

The hosts – who lost two young starlets over the summer in Calvin Stengs and Myron Boadu – have lost their opening two competitive games this season but both of these have come away from home and they will be expecting a much better performance as they return to the AFAS Stadion for the first time this term.

AZ are a different beast on home soil, winning their final seven games there last season and scoring 21 goals in the process, whereas away from home they have won just two of their last seven. They might not be able to turn the two-goal deficit around, but they should certainly put in a much better showing than last week.

Celtic followed their first-leg win up with a 6-0 demolition of St Mirren at the weekend to make it six wins in a row but it’s well worth noting that the last five of these have all come at Celtic Park. Their only away victory this season came at Jablonec, with defeats to Midtjylland and Hearts preceding that.

In fact, The Bhoys have only won one of their last nine competitive away games and with AZ’s home form I expect the Dutch hosts to get the win here. However, Celtic haven’t failed to score in any of their ten competitive games this term and the 2-0 deficit could be too much for the hosts, so I’m backing a 2-1 correct score prediction as well.