No shortage of goals on the Warta?
The final round of Europa League qualifying is upon us, and we have our prediction and odds for the Polish-Belgian clash between Lech Poznan and Genk! The hosts were still in Champions League qualifying until recently, but that chance is now gone after they were eliminated by Red Star Belgrade.
Now the Poles want to secure at least a place in the Europa League, but they face a tough opponent in Genk, who are only just entering the competition. The “Smurfs” finished third in their domestic Jupiler League last season after the playoffs and were even the best team in the regular season!
However, the Belgian top flight side has had a mixed start to the new season. After four games, KRC is in eighth place, and one reason for their meagre haul of four points is their continued shaky defense. They have now gone 13 competitive games without a clean sheet!
In contrast, the visitors are reliable in attack, which is why we are going for both teams to score and more than two goals in the match between Lech Poznan and Genk. We also expect Mikael Ishak to find the net.
The Swede has been unstoppable this season, both domestically and internationally. In seven of his last eight games, the Scandinavian has scored at least once! We therefore also recommend betting on him to score again.
Lech Poznan – Genk Head-to-head record
The teams have already faced each other once in 2018 in the Europa League qualifiers, with the Belgians coming out on top with two wins against the Ekstraklasa champions. For the rematch between Lech Poznan and Genk, the betting odds are now fairly even.
Lech Poznan – Genk Tip
Coach Thorsten Fink’s visiting side boasts a powerful attack, featuring none other than Toluwalase Emmanuel Arokodare, the reigning joint top scorer in the Jupiler League. In addition, the Belgians have one of the best goal scorers in the league at their disposal in Zakaria El Ouahdi. Fink therefore has less to worry about in terms of the team’s attacking play compared to the chronically shaky defense at KRC.
The Flemish side have been waiting for a clean sheet for 13 competitive games, and their upcoming opponents have a similar combination of reliable offense and vulnerable defense. This is easy to see from the fact that eight of their last nine competitive games at national and international level have seen goals scored by both sides, and on top of that, only three of those games did not see more than two goals scored.
Against this backdrop, the prediction for the clash between Lech Poznan and Genk appears to be another game with goals at both ends and more than two goals in total.
