Viktoria Plzen vs Hearts Prediction and Betting Tips | August 22nd 2024

Viktoria Plzen will host Hearts at the Stadion Mesta Plzen on Thursday in the first leg of their 2024-25 UEFA Europa League playoff round clash. The home side have enjoyed a strong start to their league campaign and are now pushing for their first Europa League group-stage appearance since the 2017-18 campaign.

They faced Kryvbas in the previous round of the qualifiers picking up a 2-1 comeback win in the first-leg before beating the Slovakian side 1-0 in the return leg on home turf with Daniel Vasulin scoring the sole goal of the game early in the second-half.

Hearts have endured a rather sluggish start to their domestic campaign, mirroring their underwhelming performances during the off-season. They will hope to find better luck on the continental stage this week.

Hearts were beaten 2-0 by second-tier side Falkirk in the Scottish League Cup last weekend and will be desperate to put out a response this Wednesday as they begin their hunt for a return to the Europa League group stages after 20 years away from the competition.

Viktoria Plzen vs Hearts Head-to-Head and Key Numbers

Thursday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Viktoria and Hearts.
The visitors have had four meetings against Czech opposition in European competitions. They have won one of those games, drawn once and lost the other two.
The hosts have kept clean sheets in five of their last six games across all competitions.
Seven of Hearts' 10 league defeats last season came on the road.
The visitors have managed just two clean sheets in their last 10 games across all competitions.

Viktoria Plzen vs Hearts Prediction

Viktoria are on a four-game winning streak and are undefeated in their last eight competitive outings. They are undefeated on home turf since March and will head into the midweek clash with confidence.

Hearts are on a run of back-to-back defeats and have won just one of their last nine competitive games, a run stretching back to last season. They are without a win in their last six games on the road and could see defeat this week.

Prediction: Viktoria Plzen 3-0 Hearts

Viktoria Plzen vs Hearts Betting Tips

Tip 1 - Result: Viktoria

Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Over 2.5 goals (Eight of the visitors' last 10 matches have produced more 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 hosts' last six matches)