Unibet Predictions:: AZ Alkmaar – Galatasaray Predictions and Tips | Europa League

Unibet Predictions: AZ Alkmaar – Galatasaray Predictions and Tips For Today

Free Daily Soccer Unibet Predictions for Today, November 28, 2024.
Kick-off: 18:45 (GMT+1)
Champions League – League phase – Round 5
EVENT: AZ Alkmaar – Galatasaray
TIPS: Over 2.5 Goals | Odds: 1.57@Unibet | Result: PENDING

AZ Alkmaar – Galatasaray Predictions and Preview

• Last weekend, AZ Alkmaar finally won their first Eredivisie game in seven attempts, scoring one goal and drawing one, but overall, their domestic campaign has been disappointing.
• The UEFA Europa League (UEL) has provided some relief for the club and its under-fire head coach, Maarten Martens. Martens will now try to help the club qualify for the UEL knockouts for the first time since the 2019/20 season.
• Alkmaar has won two games in two at the AFAS Stadion in the UEL, which keeps their hopes of progress alive. They currently occupy a mid-table spot at the halfway mark in the league phase (W2, L2), with their efforts enough to warrant a play-off place as things stand.
• Situated three points below the automatic last-16 spots pre-round, they now have the opportunity to win three consecutive UEL main-draw home games for the first time since March 2012.
• Their opponents, Galatasaray, occupy third place in the league phase table pre-round as one of five teams to have taken exactly ten points from their opening four games (W3, D1). Galatasaray is at the top of the Turkish Süper Lig and has been unbeaten in 14 matches across all competitions (W12, D2), winning each of their most recent seven.
• Okan Buruk, the coach of Galatasaray, won Europe’s second tier competition with the Turkish giants as a player back in 2000. He will hope to repeat the feat as their head coach. A victory here could boost them to the top of the table and create a small piece of history in itself, as the club has never beaten a Dutch opponent away in Europe (L4), although the only Dutch side they have ever faced before are PSV.
• Key battle: Veteran goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet is set to make his UEL debut for AZ, although that may not be a blessing as he has kept just two clean sheets in 12 previous appearances in the competition’s proper rounds. Trying to score against him for the third time in his career, Dries Mertens already has six goals to his name against Alkmaar.
• Hot stat: AZ Alkmaar have never lost a home-and-home match against a Turkish opponent (W4, D3), beating Fenerbahçe in their last UEL game.