Prediction: Fenerbahce vs Ludogorets

Verdict: Fenerbahce to win & BTTS

Best odds: 2.80

Bookmaker: Zetbet

Fenerbahce has all the odds in their favour to secure a 3rd win in a row when they host Ludogorets. The match seems to be an easy win for the Turkish side. Ludogorets will face a tough opponent, backed by a volcanic atmosphere at Sukru Saracolglu Stadium in Istanbul.

Fenerbahce

Fenerbahce looks very strong both domestically and in Europe. The Turkish giants started their Conference League campaign on a front foot, winning both games played so far. A perfect home win against Norsjaelland (3-1) followed by a narrow win in Slovakia with Trnava put Fenerbahce in pole position to win Group H. Ismail Kartal did an outstanding job with his players winning all of their competitive matches played this season. As a matter of fact, Fener is the only team in Europe’s top competitions to have won all of their games played.

Domestically, Fener is battling with Galata to regain supremacy in Turkey, having a 2 points lead in front of the current champions after 9 rounds played. The home team scored an impressive 29 goals in their 11 competitive matches, building up one of the highest average goals scored per match figure (2.63). Sukru Saracolglu Stadium is a real fortress that only Besiktas and Galatasaray managed to conquer this calendar year, in 2 matches played last season.

Team News

Fenerbahce has all players available to face Ludogorets.

Rodrigo and Djuku will be playing centre-halves with Kadioglu defending from the left and Osayi-Samuel from the right. The Nigerian international managed to score against Hatayspor, in the last match played in SuperLig. The transfers of experienced and international players like Fred (Manchester United), Tadic (Ajax Amsterdam) and Dzeko (Inter Milan) paid off massively. These stars of the game are expected to shine again in front of Ludogorets defence.

Ludogorets

The Bulgaria champions have a short but difficult trip to Istanbul, hoping to return home undefeated. Ludogorets managed to pull a victory in the opening round (4-0 at home with Trnava). It was just a flash of light that was switched off quickly by Nordsjaelannd who inflicted Ludogorets one of the heaviest defeats in their history (7-1). Ivaylo Petev has a difficult task ahead of him trying to strengthen his already defeated look-alike players. Ludogorets still has a chance to get out of this tricky group but needs their miracle to start in Istanbul.

The current champions don’t have the squad depth to fight equally in the Conference League and in their domestic competitions, hence the fall suffered in Parva Liga. With just 24 points from their 12 games played, Ludogorets sits 5th in the table, 6 points behind leaders Lokomotiv Plovdiv. The visitors had their confidence shattered once again, failing to win the last match played away at Arda (0-0).

 Team News

Ludogorets will be able to line up the best squad having no players injured or suspended.

Verdon and Sunberg will try to cope with the pressure Edin Dzego will put in the box, Son and Witry being tasked to stop the countless crosses coming from the wingers. Chouiar, Goncalves and Piotrowski will look to hold up the midfield line and transition the play forward. Rwan Seco, the young and talented Brazilian striker will try to score with the help of his wingers Tekpetey and Caio Vidal.

Key factors to consider

• Fenerbahce is the only team, from major competitions, that won all of their competitive matches this season.
• The hosts never played against Ludogorets and look set to open their account with a win against their opponent.
• The SuperLig leaders scored 17 goals in their last 5 matches.
• Fener had their morale boosted by winning the last match played (4-2 against Hatayspor).
• Dzeko&Co. defend very high conceding only 1 goal in the last 6 matches.
• Ludogorets sit 3rd in Group H, level on points (3) with Nordsjaelland.
• The current Bulgaria champions fell on 5th in their domestic competition.
• Ivaylo Petev’s team has the weakest defence in the group with 7 goals conceded in 2 games.

Conclusion

Fenerbache looks very strong this season and a win against the Bulgarian Champions seems to be a formality. Considering both teams’ results domestically and in Europe, Fenerbahce are tipped to get their 12th win of the season. Ludogorets showed their limit when playing away from home and the only question remains how many goals they will concede in Istanbul. Both teams playing attacking football will be a plus for the neutral fans with many goals being expected and a win for Fenerbahce.

Verdict: Fenerbahce to win & BTTS

Best odds: 2.80

Bookmaker: Zetbet