The 6th round of Group I of Europa League will take place in Turkey, at Vodafone Park, Istanbul. Here we will see Bestikas hosting Malmo in hopes to get their ticket to the knockout stage, however, a draw would put them in an uncomfortable position which could send Bestikas home.
Bestikas are coming into this match after a huge win against Sarpsborg in the most recent Europa League match, where they were 2 goals down by the 6th minute, but managed to turn the match around in the second half. First, they scored 2 goals in quick succession in 62nd and 66th minute, to which they added a game-winning goal in 90′. That put Sarpsborg in a bad position, as they are the last team in Group I with 5 points. Looking at Bestikas performance in Europa League, they are currently 2nd with a 2-1-2 record and 7 points. In their campaign, they won twice against Sarpsborg (3:1), (2:3), lost a match against Malmo (2:0) and drew and lost a match against Genk (1:1), (2:4). Bestikas is coming into this match knowing they need to win to secure their appearance in the knockout stages, and any other result would leave them hanging by a thread. In that regard, they will be hoping to win against Malmo, who has defeated them once before, however this time, Bestikas will be playing at their home stadium.
Malmo has played an impressive draw against Genk in their most recent match (2:2), which put them only 1 point behind Bestikas with an overall record of 1-3-1 in Europa League. With the exception of defeat against Genk in the 1st match of the group stage (2:0) and a win against Bestikas (2:0), Malmo has played a draw in all of their next 3 games (1:1) against Sarpsborg twice and as mentioned (2:2) in their most recent fixture against Genk. Going into this match, Malmo needs a win and looking at how they performed against Bestikas in their H2H matches, Malmo does come off as a better side. In their 5 encounters, Malmo has won 3, whereas Bestikas has only won once. With their strong record against Bestikas, Malmo will come into this match confident they can upset Bestikas in front of their own fans.
Malmo knows they need to win this match to advance, as any other result would see them being sent home. In their last 3 games in Europa League, Malmo has drawn all but managed to score goals in each of them, which proves they can be dangerous with the ball. Bestikas, on the other hand, has a 2 game winning streak at home stadium in all competitions. In their most recent home match in the domestic league, they have defeated Galatasaray (1:0) only to play a disappointing draw against Alanyaspor in the match that followed (0:0). I expect a highly entertaining match between Bestikas who can’t afford to let this match end in a defeat or even a draw and Malmo who must win to advance in the competition. From what we have seen from the teams, Malmo is a slight favourite for me to win this one, but we can not underestimate Bestikas home ground advantage, especially in a match of this importance. In that regard, this could easily end in a draw, so a +0.50 AH bet on Malmo will be our prediction.
Prediction: Malmo +0.50 Asian Handicap
Odds: 2.33 Asianodds
