Vllaznia v Linfield

Vllaznia vs Linfield Preview

Albanian hosts, Vllaznia, face a mountain to climb on Thursday night when they play host to Northern Irish visitors, Linfield, as the home side find themselves chasing down a two-goal deficit following last week's 1st leg 3-1 defeat to their opponents at Windsor Park in Belfast.

Although Vllaznia will now have their turn of making the most of home advantage, recent results have been fairly poor for the hosts as they have managed to collect just two wins out of their last 11 matches across all competitions and includes being handed five defeats in the process, so the prospects of a straight win here for Migen Memelli's side seem fairly unlikely.

Goals for both teams may feature here though in this return leg at the Stadiumi Loro Boriçi as six of Vllaznia's last 11 matches have seen both teams hit the back of the net, while five of their last 10 home games have also resulted in both teams scoring.

In the inaugural year of this UEFA Conference League, Vllaznia made it through to the 2nd Qualifying Round before being beaten 2-0 on aggregate to Cypriot outfit, AEL Larnaca.

Linfield hit the road for this upcoming 2nd leg tie in Albania but the Irish visitors will have been very content with their 1st leg 3-1 victory which they will be looking to protect at the Stadiumi Loro Boriçi as the Irish club look to make it through to the next round of qualifiers in this competition.

Linfield will also be seeking to capture a fourth win on the trot following club friendlies victories over Kilmarnock and H&W Welders that were in between last week's victory against their Albanian opponents in this European tie and having suffered just two defeats in their previous 17 games overall, the Irish visitors look to be in the driving seat ahead of this return leg.

11 of these last 17 matches have resulted in wins for Linfield and it's worth noting that the two aforementioned losses were actually inflicted upon Linfield at home by St Mirren and Connah's Quay in recent club friendlies.

In addition, Linfield are unbeaten in their last six outings on the road in all competitions and having won four of these games along with scoring in five of these six matches as well, Irish eyes could well be smiling on Thursday night.

Vllaznia v Linfield Verdict

Being 3-1 down after the 1st leg, Vllaznia know they must hit the ground running straight from the kick-off and must score an early goal if they're to have any chance of eroding this two-goal deficit, while Linfield have shown they are also capable of scoring goals on the road.

Therefore, our main bet will be Both Teams To Score Yes @ 1.79

Other side bets worth considering:

Both Teams To Score Yes & Over 2.5 goals @ 2.50

Correct score: Linfield 2-1 @ 11.00