Qabala vs PAOK Betting Tips

It was fellow Greek side Panathinaikos that granted Qabala a path into the Europa League group stages, with a 2-2 draw away from home and a 0-0 draw at home sending Qabala through the playoffs on away goals.

They did manage to make it into the first round of qualifying last season, but suffered an early exit at the hands of Siroki Brijeg.

But this season they have shown some steel in their qualifying campaign, and put together a couple of good results domestically to leave them 3^rd in the Azerbaijani Premyer Liga behind Qarabag and Inter Baki.

Inter Baki did manage to beat them on Saturday, a loss that brought an end to Qabala’s nine match unbeaten streak in all competitions.

PAOK are regulars of European competition, and have taken part in the Europa League in every year since 2009, albeit with some of those campaigns ending as early as the playoff round.

They have reached the knockout rounds in three of these seven campaigns, so they certainly know what it takes to proceed past the lengthy group stages.

But the Greeks aren’t in the best of form at the moment. They have only managed to pick up four points from their opening three Greek Super League games, and their 3-0 win over Veria at the weekend was only their second in the last eight games in all competitions.

They don’t travel particularly well in Europe either, and they have only picked up one away win in the Europa League in their last eight attempts.

The likes of Azerbaijan will be unfamiliar territory to PAOK as well, and unfamiliar territory often leads to poor results for travelling sides.

I think Qabala’s home advantage will help them enormously in this fixture, and I’m expecting them to get something from the game against the Europa League old guns. Odds of 7/10 for a Qabala Win or Draw Double Chance look like excellent odds as well, so I’m backing that along with a 1-1 draw at 11/2.