Roma vs Viktoria Plzen Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Roma have made hard work of this Europa League group, they haven’t got too much breathing space even at this late stage. They slipped to a draw with Viktoria Plzen, and they’re only five points ahead of the bottom side. However, they can finally book qualification with a home victory on Thursday night. They can also go some way towards securing top spot.

Plzen are just two points off second, so their hopes of qualifying are far from dashed. However, they’re still the weakest team in the group. That was shown in their 1-0 defeat at home to Astra, but that was their only defeat in the group so far. Can they maintain that record when they travel to the Italian capital this week? The bookies clearly don’t think so, Roma are heavy favourites.

The Czech side travel to a really tough ground to play at, Roma have one of the best home records in Serie A. They’re unbeaten here in the league and Europa League, while they’ve won every game at the Stadio Olimpico domestically. While they’re not having an easy time chasing down Juventus, that’s mostly down to their form on the road.

They’ve been blowing teams away at home in Serie A. They average 3.33 goals per match, while they concede just 0.67 an outing here. It’s hard to see Plzen being the side to end their strong run in front of their own fans. The Czech team have a solid away record, taking a 0-0 draw at Austria Wien and a 1-1 at Astra. However, this is a much tougher test than either of those.

Plzen come into this game having not won any of their last nine in this competition which shows just how out of their depth they are. Roma are scoring for fun in Europe, they’ve hit at least three in each of their last three Europa League matches. Astra, who are marginally better than Plzen, lost 4-0 in a visit here earlier in the group.

Roma are also racking up some big wins in Serie A, which is well above Plzen’s level. This season, 75% of their victories have been by two goals or more and half of their wins have been by three or more. The worst thing for Plzen is that the hosts are going to be taking this seriously. Given that the visitors haven’t scored more than once away in their last six, we can see a big win for the Italians. We’re backing Roma -1 here, at 5/6 with bet365.