Gent vs Sporting – Europe League 

Gent surely plays better at home than when playing away, since in the last 10 games at home they won 5 times and tied one, but in the last 10 games away, they lost all.

Besides being 3rd in the belgium league, in 13 plays they have one of the worst conceded goals ranking, with 20 goals by now, with 26 goals scored making a positive goal average. This afternoon they will have a very important game for the Europa League since they are at the bottom of the group and they need to get points as soon as possible. Even not being favorites since they lost 5-0 against the very same team in the last game, I believe they will play much better today in their stadium.

I believe that if Gent scores first, they will take over the game and will surely score more goals.

Sporting is the favourite for this game, breathing confidence in Europa League with 9 points in 3 games and a 12-2 goal average. The story is completely different in the league, which in 9 games they have a poor 9-7 goal average. But let’s not forget that the Portuguese League middle teams are much better than the Belgium League.

We can take for granted that if Sporting wins tonight, they guarantee a place in the next stage of the Cup, and even with the changes Paulo Sérgio will make, he has nice players capable of scoring against this Gent, specially Postiga, which is in good form. However, the changes in the defence and goalkeeper may be a bad choice, specially the german goalkeeper Hildebrend that in a bad day usually makes it harder to the team.

Both teams may say that their defence is not their strongest side, however they are both strong scoring goals. Gent needs to score for a victory and Sporting made many changes in their usual eleven, so in my opinion it will be a wide game with a lot of goals.