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Gent will host Vikingur at the Ghelamco Arena on Thursday in the first leg of their 2024-25 UEFA Europa Conference League second-round qualifying clash. The home side enjoyed a strong finish to their league campaign last season ultimately beating Genk 1-0 in the playoff final and will now begin their quest for continental football this week.
They endured a rather disappointing finish to their pre-season campaign suffering defeats to Lille and Zulte Waregem in their final two friendly games but will be hopeful of a winning start to life under new boss Wouter Vrancken.
Vikingur meanwhile kicked off their Conference League qualifiers against Liepaja earlier in the month playing out a 1-1 draw in the first leg. They then secured advancement in the return leg on home turf as they beat the Latvian outfit 2-0 via goals from Poul Kallsberg and Finnur Justinussen.
The visitors last made it past the second round of a European qualifier back in the 2014-15 campaign when they Norwegian side Tromso IL 2-1 on aggregate in the Europa League qualifiers and will hope they can find similar luck here as well.
Gent vs Vikingur Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- Thursday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Gent and Vikingur.
- Gent were the second-highest-scoring side in the Jupiler Pro League last season with their goal tally of 81 only bettered by champions Club Brugge (83).
- Vikingur's only league defeat this season has come on the road.
- Only three of the Buffalos' nine league defeats last season came on home turf.
- The Vikings have the best defensive record in the Faroe Islands Premier League this season with a goal concession tally of seven.
Gent vs Vikingur Prediction
Gent are on a run of back-to-back defeats after winning six of their seven games prior. They have however lost just one of their last eight home matches and will head into the midweek clash as overwhelming favorites.
The Vikings are on a brilliant seven-game unbeaten streak picking up six wins in that period. The sheer gulf in class and quality between the two teams should however see the home team come out on top here.
Prediction: Gent 2-0 Vikingur
Gent vs Vikingur Betting Tips
Tip 1 - Result: Gent
Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Under 2.5 goals (Three of the hosts' last four matches have produced more than 2.5 goals)
Tip 3 - Both teams to score: NO (Both sides have found the back of the net in just one of the visitors' last five matches)
