Prediction: St Patrick’s Athletic to win 2-1
Best Odds: 7/1
F91 Dudelange and St Patrick’s Athletic will lock horns with each other in the first leg of UEFA Europa Conference League Qualifying First Round this week. The match between the Luxembourg National Division club and the League of Ireland Premier Division outfit will be held at Stade Jos Nosbaum in Dudelange, Luxembourg and is scheduled to kick off at 6:30pm UK time on Wednesday.
F91 Dudelange
F91 Dudelange are a big in Luxembourg. They play in the Luxembourg National Division and finished third last season. Founded in 1991, F91 Dudelange picked up 67 points from 30 league matches last season. They ended up three points behind second-placed Progrès Niederkorn and 10 points behind eventual champions Swift Hesperange.
Not many would F91 Dudelange expected to go as far as the group stage of the UEFA Europa Conference League. After all, they are a very small club who do not have the resources to make an impact in major European competitions. However, playing the first leg at home will give them an advantage, and they will certainly do their best to pick up all three points from the match at Stade Jos Nosbaum in Dudelange.
F91 Dudelange have won the Luxembourg National Division title as many as 16 times, the latest of which came in 2021-22.
Team News:
Samir Hadji will lead the line for the home team.
St Patrick’s Athletic
St Patrick’s Athletic are a well-known club in the Republic of Ireland. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division and tend to do relatively well. Last season, the Supersaints finished fourth in the table with 61 points from 36 matches, just five points behind second-placed Derry City.
The Athletic are second in the League of Ireland Premier Division table at the moment. They have picked up 43 points from 25 matches and are only four points behind leaders Shamrock Rovers. Jon Daly’s side could win the title this campaign.
Daly is well aware of the task that his side face against F91 Dudelange. Ahead of the match on Wednesday, The Athletic manager said: “Trying to find footage has been very difficult, so it’s kind of going into the unknown a little bit. We have footage of them from last year. There have been a lot of changes with players turned over and their manager has changed, so I don’t think we can look too much into last year. As a team it’s very difficult to anticipate what they will do.
“They haven’t really put up much on their social media, but I think they have played a couple (of pre-season games). I have seen a highlights reel of one of their games that you can pick bits from, but nothing where you can get a clear idea of what they’re trying to do.
“Their striker (Samir) Hadji is decent and scored plenty of goals last year. He looks lively and quick. But we’ve got one or two on our team who can produce, as we saw against Cork with Jake (Mulraney) and (Chris) Forrester.
“No doubt, they’ll have done their homework. They have plenty of footage to watch on us. I’d imagine they probably bought an LOI TV pass maybe. They‘ll be able to look more at us than we can look at them.”
Team News:
St Patrick’s Athletic are likely to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Carty is likely to lead the line for the visiting team.
Key Factors to Consider
- St Partick’s Athletic have won just two of their last nine ties in UEFA competitions.
- Dudelange became the first-ever Luxembourgish club to reach a group stage in 2018, featuring in the Europa League, before also getting there again 12 months later.
Conclusion
St Patrick’s Athletic are a better team and should be confident of getting a result at Stade Jos Nosbaum in Dudelange, Luxembourg. Although F91 Dudelange will be determined to make their home advantage count, it is likely that the club from the Republic of Ireland club will pick up all three points from the encounter in the end.
Prediction: St Patrick’s Athletic to win 2-1
Best Odds: 7/1
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