FC Astana vs Rennes Predictions

Kazakhstan outfit Astana take on French side Rennes in the second match day of the Europa League group stage at the Astana Arena. Astana kicked off their Europa League campaign with a fine 2-2 draw away at Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, whilst Rennes also started their campaign well with a 2-1 home victory over Jablonec from Czech Republic.

Astana have had a great season so far, they sit 7 points clear in their domestic league after 27 games so they can afford to put full attention to this Europa League game. They came through a tricky Europa League qualifier, beating APOEL on penalties to make it to the group stage. Astana showed their fighting qualities as they fell behind twice in their trip to Dynamo Kyiv, with their 2nd goal coming in the 95th minute of the game. Stats showed it was a fair result with nothing between them in the main categories.

Rennes have had a tough start to the season in Ligue 1, they sit 16th after picking up just 8 points from their opening 8 games, so whilst they will want to progress as far as they can in Europe they will have one eye on the league table until their league position improves. This is their first Europa League campaign since the 2011/12 season where they bowed out bottom of a group containing Atletico Madrid, Udinese and Celtic. They have started this campaign in better shape, opening up with a 2-1 win at home against Czech outfit Jablonec. They didn’t have it their own way however with the away side giving as good as they got but Rennes were awarded a 91st min penalty which Hatem Ben Arfa duly converted to give the French side the win.

Astana are regular competitors in the Europa League and they have an excellent home scoring record, they have found the net in their last 7 home outings in the competition. They do tend to struggle to keep the ball out of their own net against the better opposition, conceding 3 against Sporting and Villarreal.

As aforementioned this is Rennes first involvement with the Europa League since the 2011/12 season so we have little recent competition form to go off, however based on their recent league form, they are a side who score and concede plenty. Rennes have scored in all 8 of their French Lige 1 games so far this season and conceded in 6/8. Both of their clean sheets came at home as BTTS has landed in all 4 of their away league games this season.

Whilst this is Rennes first Europa League campaign in a few years, we feel they have enough in their squad to make an impact. They certainly know where the net is, however they simply can’t keep the ball out, particularly away from home. We see this being no different as they take the long journey to Kazakhstan this week, so for that reason we shall be backing Both Teams to Score. Taking into account the tough start Rennes have made to the league and with them not hitting their stride yet this season, we think Astana will just nick this game and we’ll will also be backing Astana 2-1 on the correct score market.