Galatasaray to gain 1st leg lead over St Johnstone
Galatasaray SK vs St Johnstone - 05/08/2021
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The 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League also starts this week with the 1st leg ties being played on Tuesday and Wednesday night, and features the clash between Turkish side, Galatasaray, and Scottish Premiership side, St Johnstone.
Galatasaray hold home advantage for this 1st leg at their Türk Telekom Stadium where they’ll be looking to make a better fist of things this time around following their earlier 2-1 defeat at home in the 2nd leg to PSV, losing 7-2 on aggregate, in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League.
The Turks have another bite of the proverbial cherry though in the Europa League and they’ll be keen to make home advantage count this time, and having previously racked up eight wins on the trot in all competitions prior to their fateful meeting against PSV, Galatasaray still pose a very serious threat.
Aside from the loss to PSV, Galatasaray have also won five of their last six games at home which includes domestic Super League wins against Konyaspor, Besiktas and Yeni Malatyaspor.
Onto St Johnstone, and it’s been a four-year absence from the Europa League for the Scottish visitors who face a tough assignment in Turkey on Thursday evening and if previous results in this competition are anything to go by, St Johnstone may well have their work cut out in this two-legged encounter.
The Saints have managed to win just one of their last six ties overall in the Europa League and this came in the form of a 2-1 home win against Alashkert back in 2015 but four losses within this sequence suggest this could be a tough outing for Callum Davidson’s boys.
Previous defeats to Sprtak Trnava, Alashkert and home and away losses to Lithuanian side, Riterai, in their previous foray onto the European stage doesn’t bode well for this upcoming tie in Istanbul.
It’s true that St Johnston have performed well on the domestic front in the Scottish top flight where they’ve suffered just the one loss in their previous 13 matches in all competitions, and indeed, The Saints captured a Scottish FA Cup final win over Hibernian 1-0 to qualify for this season’s Europa League.
However, with just two wins from their previous seven away ties in the Europa League, St Johnstone are expected to be up against it when they take on a quality Galatasaray outfit.
Home team
Away team
Pred
Correct score
Avg. goals
Weather conditions
Coef.
Score
Live
coef.
UEL
553114
1
1 - 0
1.70
31°
1.43
1.43
4.50
8.30
1
-1
-1
1 - 1(0 - 0)
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