Slavia Prague vs CFR Cluj Predictions

Going away to Romania was never going to be easy, though Slavia Prague delivered a pleasing travelling effort to return home with a 1-0 victory in the bag. By scoring an away goal and gaining the advantage, Wednesday’s hosts know that all they need to do now is avoid defeat in front of a home crowd.

Last week’s first leg was Slavia’s first involvement in Champions League qualifying this term, though that didn’t stop them delivering an effective away-day performance. They certainly didn’t dazzle, while their fans had only a few attacking moments to get excited about, but the Czech side were disciplined, tough to break down and ultimately did what they needed to.

By creating only 0.68 expected goals for in Romania, Slavia didn’t create the most positive attacking impression, though they did show solid defensive resistance, while they did a reasonable job of stopping their opponents from building up a head of steam, as they surrendered seven shots, two shots on target and 1.16 expected goals.

In all honesty, Cluj were very disappointing last week. Despite playing at home, they failed to pack a punch going forward, while they managed to concede against a Slavia side that showed minimal attacking intent.

Not only were the Romanian side poor a week ago, but their efforts on the road during qualifying haven’t exactly been satisfying. They did manage to beat Celtic away from home in the last round, but as they surrendered no less than 3.38 expected goals and emerged with an expected goal difference of -1.35, they were fortunate to do so. On that occasion, their defensive limitations were well and truly exposed, as they were when drawing 2-2 away with Maccabi prior to that.

In the betting, ‘Slavia to Win & Over 2.5 Goals’ catches the eye. Slavia didn’t offer a great deal going forward last week, though that was largely by design. At home against a Cluj side that has surrendered an average of two goals and 1.96 expected goals on the road in qualifying, Wednesday’s hosts can offer more in the final third. The visitors have little choice to go for it in Prague, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they did make offensive headway, much as they did against both Celtic and Maccabi, though their weak rear-guard is likely to cost them should the game open up.