FC Levadia Tallinn vs Dundalk Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Dundalk’s chase for the Irish title is going well, as they aim to wrestle the trophy off Cork City. A win against the title rivals last month put them in complete control, with the 2016 title winners now four points clear domestically. They’ve put that on hold for the minute, as they look for another strong European run when they meet Levadia of Estonia this week. Can they claim an away win in the first leg to take a huge step towards a place in the second round of the Europa League qualifiers?

Dundalk broke new ground for Irish football with their run to the group stage of the Europa League in 2016/17. They came within a whisker of the Champions League group stage, before losing out to Legia Warsaw. However, their European progress was still remarkable, especially after they claimed four points from their opening two matches. To get that far once again Dundalk have a tricky route through this summer’s qualifiers, starting in Estonia on Thursday.

Dundalk are favourites to claim a result on Thursday, after their brilliant form took them top of the table. They head to a side Cork beat home and away in this competition last season, and that probably has a bearing on the fact that Dundalk are favourites. They come to Estonia to face the side who are third in the Estonian top flight, and after three straight losses in this competition the hosts can be seen as vulnerable.

The visitors are in supreme scoring form, with 2.52 goals per game in the league this season, and over 2.5 landing in 60% of their games. Meanwhile, there have been at least three goals in 89% of Levadia’s matches, and we expect them to put up a fight against Dundalk. We’re backing over 2.5 goals as our main tip here, which looks like good value given the form of these two.

Dundalk also have Pat Hoban to boost their chances here, he’s scored nine times in his last six games, and he struck in his last Europa League appearance. We think he can fire Dundalk to glory here, so we’re backing the forward to score any time, after leading the scoring charts for his side with 21 goals this term. Given the manner of Cork’s wins against Levadia last season, we expect the visitors to triumph, so an away win and BTTS looks like a good bet to us, as does a 2-1 victory.