Sarpsborg vs Genk Predictions

Sarpsborg 08 could hardly be in worse shape ahead of their Europa League Group I clash with Belgian club Genk this week. The Norwegians are embarking on their first ever campaign in the Group Stage of the competition, though even at this early juncture, they look destined for an early exit from the tournament.

After twenty-four games of the 2018 Eliteserien season, Sarpsborg are in 9^th position but they are tumbling south fast. Coach Geir Bakke has watched his team lose 100% of their last seven matches in all competitions as things threaten to unravel completely for the 48-year old.

Buried within that horrible run is a defeat away to Besiktas in Group I of the Europa League. Sarpsborg lost 3-1 in Turkey, a result that could have been far worse had the hosts been a little more clinical.

With confidence at rock bottom and momentum at a veritable standstill, Sarpsborg will expect little from a fixture with a Genk team in highly contrasting form. Simply put, the Belgians are absolutely flying at the moment.

De Smurfen haven’t lost a match of any description since early May and in total they have gone twenty-eight games (including friendlies) unbeaten. In terms of competitive fixtures – in 2018/19, Genk have won fifteen of their seventeen games in all competitions.

Alongside their results, Genk have been thrilling their supporters with their high calibre, goal gathering football. De Smurfen have rattled home an incredible fifty-four goals in their seventeen matches so far this term, an average of 3.17 per game.

Genk registered twenty-four shots on target against Malmo in their first Europa League Group game a month ago, which was the highest number of shots on goal taken by any team across the opening set of fixtures in the competition.

Genk have all the tools required to stretch their winning run to six matches on Thursday against a Sarpsborg side who are finding it impossible to halt their slide. Furthermore, 70% of Genk’s games this season have finished with over 2.5 goals scored in them.

With that considered, we recommend coupling the away win with an over 2.5 goal selection to boost your odds for Thursday’s contest. Genk’s commitment to attack often leaves the door open at the other end of the pitch away from home however – they have kept just two clean sheets in seven away matches in 2018/19.

For that reason, we think the both teams to score option for this week’s face off looks excellent value. It’s worth noting that Genk scored at least three times in five of those seven away games and with that sort of goal getting power at their disposal, we’re going for a 3-1 Genk win for our correct score prediction.