Slask Wroclaw - Lokomotiv Sofia

Slask Wroclaw take on Lokomotiv Sofia in a first leg game from the Third Qualifying Round of the Europa League. The game kicks off at 15:45 GMT and the home advantage of the Polish team clearly favours them in the first leg. That is the main reason why my pick here for this match will be a home win which you can back at 1.70.

Slask finished the last championship in Poland in 2nd place after failing to catch up with champions Wisla Krakow who finished a whole lot 7 points in front of them. However, Slask did really well and they showed this in the Second Qualifying Round of the competition when they eliminated the strong Dundee United side on away goals. The first leg in Poland turned out to be decisive as the clear 1:0 win guaranteed Slask the progression to the next round. Slask relied mainly on their home games in the championship too as they recorded seven wins and only one defeat (7-3-1).

Lokomotiv Sofia secured their place in the Europa League in the very last moment finishing 4th in the last year’s Bulgarian championship and the team will try to get to the group stage of the competition for the first time in their history. However, the performance they showed in the previous round against Metalurg Skopie were not very convincing and head coach Dian Petkov will have to improve his team in order to get past Slask. Lokomitv fought hard for the 0:0 draw against Metalurg in the away leg but they will find it far more difficult against the strong Polish team.

The home advantage looks to be a main advantage in the qualifying rounds of the club competitions this season and I will again back the home side Slask here.