Slovan Liberec vs AEK Larnaca Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Slovan Liberec, who finished 3rd in the Czech First League last season, are regular faces in the Europa League, featuring every year since 2012. Whilst their current form in the Czech domestic league isn’t anything special, drawing two and losing two of their opening four matches, they did convincingly win both legs of their third qualifying round tie against Austrian side Admira at the start of August. They were the better side in the first leg of this matchup. Slovan Liberec have also signed as many as eight new players over the transfer window, including veteran striker Milan Baros, who has scored one goal in three appearances for the side.

AEK Larnaca finished runners up in the the Cyprus First Division for a second consecutive time last season, which once again earn them a first qualifying round spot in the UEFA Europa League. From there, the Cypriots have been able to advance to the playoff stage with relative ease, beating Folgore of San Marino 6-1 on aggregate, followed by a 5-2 aggregate win over Cliftonville of Northern Ireland in the second qualifying round. Most impressively, however, was their 2-1 aggregate win over Russian Premier League side Spartak Moskva in the third qualifying round. Larnaca put in a solid performance at home in the first leg against Slovan Liberec, but after 90 minutes they found themselves trailing 1-0 and facing their first defeat of their Europa League campaign. Larnaca need a 1-0 win or better to replicate their biggest success to date, that of the 2011/2012 Europe League competition where they progressed to the group stage.

Larnaca’s capability to progress further in the Europa League cannot be questioned so easily, after knocking out Russian side Spartak Moscow last round. They have improved defensively in later rounds but still never seem too convincing in front of goal. Hosts Slovan Liberec are the favourites for the bookies here, and we feel the market for them to win is a decent price at 21/20. Slovan Liberec’s experience and bigger prevalence in European competition over recent years not only gives them a tactical edge, but their opponents, AEK Larnaca, have the added strain of having to travel for this second leg fixture. No doubt both sides will come out firing here with Liberec hoping to build upon their one goal advantage and Larnaca hoping to regain ground. Both teams have shown they are capable of scoring goals throughout their prior qualifying rounds, each averaging two goals per game, and as such, we expect a few goals here.

Based on this, Slovan Liberec to win at 21/20 and Slovan Liberec to win 2-1 at 8/1 with bet365 are our choice bets for this match.