Slavia Prague vs Bordeaux Predictions

Bordeaux will play their first group stage match for three years without the manager that got them there in the first place, but will that stunt their progress in this competition?

Gus Poyet was sacked after the club’s third qualifying round win over Mariupol as he was adjudged to have gone over the line with his comments about the club’s hierarchy following the unapproved sale of Gaetan Laborde. The team had to play their final play-off round under the management of long-term fitness coach Eric Bedouet but miraculously soared passed Gent in a 2-0 aggregate win.

They will now be aiming to have a more successful European campaign than their last group stage where they finished fourth of four teams, failing to win any of their six matches. The standards have been set pretty low for this squad but with Ricardo Gomes recently been appointed as General Manager, essentially head coach but the Brazilian has been given a different title due to some logistical issues, he will be aiming to set his mark on Europe, something he failed to do during his first stint at the club 11 years ago. In a Champions League group of Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven and Galatasaray, Bordeaux finished third prompting a drop down to the UEFA Cup round-of 32 where they lost 1-0 to Osasuna.

This time round, he obviously has a much different squad and his side could really see some success in this competition after so many limp attempts. They have had some rocky form as of late, drawing 3-3 with newly-promoted Nimes at the weekend after a 2-0 loss to Rennes the week before. This came after two successive wins when everything seemed to be levelling out after a turbulent start to the season with the managerial changes. Gomes took charge of his first game against Nimes so he has now had a while to analyse his team and adapt but in all honesty, the Brazilian has had some pretty weak periods at clubs recently; taking Sao Paolo to just one point above the relegation places when he was sacked in 2016 and some average stints at Brazilian Serie B side Botafogo and Saudi Arabian team Al-Nassr make for a pretty dire CV. He has rarely been at a club for more than a year and it is a pretty underwhelming appointment altogether, Gomes should find himself largely out of his depth in the Europa League and that could cost them.

Their opposition are in a much better place at the moment. Eight games into the Czech Liga, Slavia have won seven matches and scored 20 goals, conceding just four. Jindrich Trpisovsky has only been at the club since December but Slavia have only lost four times in the last nine months and this is largely down to the work of the Czech.

His side have been scoring for fun and have turned the Eden Arena into a fortress as they have only lost three of their last 17 matches at the home stadium. Slavia were handed a tough Champions League play-off round fixture against Dynamo Kyiv as they lost 2-1 on aggregate but Slavia are one of the better sides in the competition this year despite some recent disappointing European campaigns.

Milan Skoda and Josef Husbauer will be the main goal threats for Slavia in what will be an exciting game in the Czech Republic. With Salvia in such good form, we’re backing them to win this one against a Bordeaux side who have been woeful at times and don’t look to be improving under their new under-qualified manager. Slavia have scored 10 in their last three games and with Bordeaux conceding five in their last two and not winning any of their last three away games, we’re backing the Czechs to put at least two past the French in this one, but Bordeaux should get a goal as they have in 12 of their last 15 games. We’re expecting a 2-1 victory for Slavia.