Hearts vs Viktoria Plzen Prediction and Betting Tips | August 29th 2024
Hearts will host Victoria Plzen at Tynecastle Park on Thursday in the second leg of their 2024-25 UEFA Europa League playoff round clash. The home side have endured a very poor start to their season and will be looking to turn things around this week in an attempt to kick start their campaign.
They were beaten 3-1 by Motherwell in their last match and could have no major complaints about the result after struggling to find invention in the final third despite dominating possession for most parts of the game.
Viktoria Plzen, on the other hand, are enjoying a brilliant start to their season and are now closing in on a spot in the Europa League group stages. They beat Hearts 1-0 in their first leg of the playoff tie last week, squandering multiple chances to take the lead before profiting from an own goal deep into additional time.
With the first-leg result now in the bag, the visitors will head to Scotland where they will be looking to finish the job by avoiding defeat.
Hearts vs Viktoria Plzen Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- Thursday's game will mark just the second meeting between Hearts and Viktoria following their maiden matchup last week.
- The hosts have had five meetings against Czech opposition in European competitions. They have won one of those games, drawn once and lost the other three.
- The visitors have kept clean sheets in each of their last four games.
- Hearts have managed just one clean sheet in their last seven competitive outings, a run stretching back to last season.
Hearts vs Viktoria Plzen Prediction
Hearts are on a four-game losing streak and have just one competitive win since April. They are, however, undefeated on home turf all year and will be looking forward to Thursday's game, confident of overturning their first-leg result.
Viktoria, meanwhile, have won their last five games on the bounce and are undefeated in their last eight. The gulf in class and quality between the two teams, coupled with their contrasting form, should see the visitors come out on top this week.
Prediction: Hearts 0-2 Viktoria Plzen
Hearts vs Viktoria Plzen Betting Tips
Tip 1 - Result: Viktoria to win
Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Under 2.5 goals (Two of the hosts' last three matches have produced fewer than 2.5 goals)
Tip 3 - Both teams to score: NO (Both sides have found the back of the net in just one of the visitors' last seven matches)