Servette vs Ludogorets prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2024-02-14 20:00.
It is a season of firsts for Servette, who made their European group stage debut in the UEFA Europa League, which resulted in a third-placed finish and a subsequent drop down for their first ever appearance in the UEFA Europa Conference League knockout play-off round. The Genevans should enter it with confidence as, since the turn of the year, they’ve won all but one game and conceded just once across their last three outings.
This will be Servette’s fifth encounter with Bulgarian opposition, and the Swiss outfit have curiously won both of the home encounters whilst losing both away games ahead of this, a trend they’d hope to continue at least for this game. The Maroons’ respectable record across their last 17 European home games suggest they could do just that (W7, D6, L4), as does the fact they’re unbeaten at home across all competitions since Slavia Prague visited in September (W8, D3).
Much more accustomed to European competition, 12-time consecutive Bulgarian champions Ludogorets arrive here on the back of their tenth European group stage. They should travel confident after returning from their winter break with a Super Cup win over CSKA Sofia last weekend, but despite that domestic dominance, Ludogorets have a rather disappointing record against Swiss opposition in European action (W1, D3, L4).
That includes a winless away record (D1, L3) in such games, which matches up with their generally poor European away form across their last 14 trips (W2, D2, L10). Whilst one of those wins did come in their latest trip to Trnava, it will be hard to forget when Ludogorets fell to their equal-largest losing margin in a European match in the group stage – a 7-1 thrashing away to Nordsjælland.
Players to watch: Servette’s Dereck Kutesa has recorded four goal contributions in four games during 2024 (G2, A2), as many as he did in 26 appearances prior to that! Kwadwo Duah opened the scoring in Ludogorets’ sole European road win this season and potentially arrives here with some inside knowledge, having scored two goals for Servette whilst on loan back in 2018/19.
Hot stat: Ludogorets conceded in five of their last six individual halves in UEFA fixtures away from home.