BK Hacken v The New Saints

Hacken v The New Saints Preview

The 1st legs of the 1st qualifying round of this season's Champions League continue on Wednesday evening with Swedish hosts, Hacken, taking on the Welsh champions of last season, The New Saints (TNS), at the Bravida Arena with the hosts looking to make the most of home advantage and take a lead into next week's 2nd leg tie in Wales.

Hacken currently sit in third place in the Swedish Allsvenskan where they trail the league leaders, Elfsborg, by just a three-point margin but the hosts will now turn their attention to this upcoming 1st qualifying round tie with Welsh side, TNS, with home advantage looking to be exploited by a Hacken outfit who have produced some impressive results on home soil so far this season.

Six wins from their opening seven home games at the Bravida Arena have given Hacken a great start to this campaign while results overall have been very encouraging for Hacken who have slipped to just four defeats out of their last 28 matches in all competitions.

Results at home have been even more impressive though as Hacken have been dealt just two defeats in their previous 16 games, picking up 13 wins in the process while goals also look set to feature as no fewer than 15 of Hacken's last 16 home games have resulted in 3 goals or more being scored.

The New Saints therefore face the daunting task of keeping their Swedish counterparts quiet in their own backyard on Wednesday evening and the Welsh visitors will be hoping they can reproduce the sort of form which brought them yet another Welsh Premier League title at the end of last season, into this upcoming two-legged qualifying tie with Hacken.

TNS ended the previous campaign with a six-match winning streak which not only secured the domestic top flight league title but also saw the visitors capture the Welsh Cup after thrashing Bala Town 6-0 in the final.

However, TNS find themselves in between domestic seasons so they've had to play a few club friendlies in preparation for their upcoming Champions League campaign and although their plans started in smooth fashion by beating Northern Irish club, Crusaders, 4-1 in their opening game, TNS have since slumped to three defeats on the trot in subsequent friendlies.

Losses to Linfield, Hamilton Academical and Cardiff City have not been the ideal pre-season warm-ups for TNS who are facing a tough trip to Goteborg to take on a free-scoring Hacken outfit, especially as the visitors have conceded two goals or more in their last three losses.

Hacken v TNS Verdict

Hacken will be in confident mood ahead of this 1st leg tie at their Bravida Arena where they will be hoping they can outscore TNS and take a lead into the 2nd leg tie.

Therefore, our main bet will be Over 3 goals @ 1.88

Other side bets worth considering:

Hacken win & Over 3.5 goals @ 2.20

Correct score: Hacken 3-1 @ 12.00