Thursday’s Europa League qualifying predictions: Killie and Ajax can progress
- There are nine Europa League second-round second-leg qualifiers on Thursday
- Recommended bets:
- Kilmarnock to go through
- Ajax to win to nil
On a busy night of Europa League action teams will be hoping to book their place in the third qualifying round as Kilmarnock travel to Cercle Brugge, while Ajax visit Serbian side Vojvodina.
Scottish side Kilmarnock picked up what could be a vital 1-1 draw at home to Cercle Brugge in the first leg of their Europa League second-round qualifier and they look capable of finishing the job in Belgium.
Dutch giants Ajax, meanwhile, won 1-0 at home last week and should also progress.
Cercle Brugge vs Kilmarnock (Thursday, 7pm)
The stats
Last week's first leg was a tight affair with Killie having eight attempts, five of which were on target, while Cercle had nine attempts with three of those on target.
This is the furthest Kilmarnock have got in Europe since they made the first round of the UEFA Cup back in 2001-02.
Cercle Brugge, who finished fourth in Belgium last season, are competing in Europe for the first time since 2010, when they reached the third qualifying round of this competition.
Prediction
Killie will have been frustrated at being unable to secure a home win in the first leg after missing plenty of good chances against their Belgian opponents last week.
In the end they had to settle for a draw as David Watson's goal in the 70th minute cancelled out Kazeem Olaigbe's opener for Cercle early in the second half.
The Belgian side made a poor start to their league season on Sunday, going down 3-0 at Westerlo, and Killie can heap more pain on them by edging through this tie overall, which would be ideal preparation for their first Scottish Premiership game of the new campaign at reigning champions Celtic this weekend.
Vojvodina vs Ajax (Thursday, 7pm)
The stats
Vojvodina finished fourth in the Serbian top flight last season.
Since its rebranding to the Europa League, Vojvodina's best run in the competition is reaching the play-off round on three occasions — in 2013, 2015 and 2016.
Ajax finished in a disappointing fifth place in the Eredivisie last term.
The Dutch giants have been European champions four times and have also won the now-defunct European Cup Winners' Cup once, the UEFA Cup once and the UEFA Super Cup twice.
Prediction
Ajax left it late to secure victory at home in the first leg as Branco van den Boomen's goal, the only one of the game, came with just four minutes left.
However, it should have been much more comfortable for the Dutch side, who controlled the majority of the match and created the clearer chances.
Ajax's pedigree in Europe is far greater than that of their Serbian opponents and they should be able to seal a spot in the third round without too many problems by winning to nil again.
