Pafos FC vs IF Elfsborg Prediction & Betting Tips - Europa League

Prediction published on 18/07/2024, 03:03  by Devesh Jaganath in Europa League Predictions

Pafos have a mountain to climb when they take on Elfsborg in the second leg of their Champions League first qualifying round tie on Thursday evening. The visitors won the first leg 3-0 last week in Sweden. The winner of this two-legged encounter will move on to face either Sheriff Tiraspol or PFC Zire in the second round. 

The hosts will likely be fairly disappointed having come away from the first leg empty-handed. They dominated possession across the 90 (58%) and managed nine goal attempts but failed to find the back of the net. 

That defeat was the first the Cypriots conceded in their last nine matches in all competitions, and it came after the side had kept back-to-back clean sheets in their preseason friendlies against Ilirija and Panathinaikos. 

They now have it all to do on their home patch but they will gain some confidence from the fact that they have scored two or more goals in three of their last five games at Alphamega Stadium, and have only lost one of their last six matches at this venue. 

Meanwhile, the key difference between the sides last week was that while Elfsborg were not at their absolute best, they made the most of the chances they had. Despite having only six attempts on target, three found the back of the net to give them a commanding lead in the tie. 

Besfort Zeneli opened the scoring for Elfsborg in the ninth minute, with Niklas Hult and Per Frick also finding the target. That result extended the Polish side’s current winning streak to three matches in all competitions. 

However, Elfsborg have not been in good form on the road of late, having lost six away games in a row between mid-April and the start of June before finally notching up a victory against Hacken over the weekend. 

While the visitors are favourite to progress to the next round, this will not be a straightforward task for them, with the hosts expected to throw caution to the wind in search of goals.