Ferencvaros vs AZ Alkmaar Prediction

Thursday night hosts the final match week of the Europa League “league phase”, in which 8 teams will guarantee safe passage to the last 16, while 16 sides will look to earn their spot in the knockout play-off round.

Two sides, Hungarian Champions Ferencvaros and Dutch giants AZ Alkmaar, meet in a game where Ferencvaros require a win to book their place in the knockout play-off round. Alkmaar, though already qualified, would like to send a message with a heavy win ahead of the first two-legged ties in February.

However, Alkmaar can still technically finish in the top eight, and thus avoid a play-off, although a large set of unlikely results would need to go their game, provided they beat Ferencvaros.

As a high stakes game approaches, here is everything you need to know about both sides ahead of kick-off.

Key Statistics

• Ferencvaros have won just two of their last six competitive games, questionable form for a side that won the Hungarian league by 16 points last season.
• Ferencvaros striker Barnabas Varga is the Europa League’s joint top scorer, netting five alongside El-Kaabi, Hojlund, Aghehowa and Akgun.
• Alkmaar currently lie sixth in the Dutch Eredivisie boasting the best defensive record outside the top two, conceding just 21 goals in 20 games.
• However, they have scored fewer goals (10) than Ferencavros (11) in the Europa League this season.

Ferencvaros Preview

Ferencavros Predicted Lineup (4-3-3): Denes Dibusz (GK); Raul, Ibrahim Cisse, Stefan Gartenmann, Cebrails Makreckis; Mohamed Ben Romdhane, Mohammad Abu Fani, Habib Maiga; Kady Malinowski, Barnabas Varga, Adama Traore.

Requiring a draw on the last match week is a scenario that Ferencvaros would have taken at the start of the campaign. However, Alkmaar are no pushovers, and the Hungarian champions will need to be on top of their game in order to earn that crucial point.

Effective in attack, they need to ensure they remain solid at the back, which has been the problem area so far this campaign. They have conceded seven goals in their last two games, goalless defeats to Frankfurt and PAOK Thessaloniki.

However, if they can keep scoring goals like they did early in the tournament, they will push their Dutch opponents to the edge, and with both needing at least a point, Ferencvaros would like to go through in style.

AZ Alkmaar Preview

AZ Alkmaar Predicted Lineup (4-2-3-1): Rome Owusu-Oduro (GK); David Moller Wolf, Alexandre Penetra, Wouter Goes, Seiya Maikuma; Jordy Clasie, Peer Koopmeiners; Mayckel Lahdo, Sven Mijnans, Ernest Poku; Mexx Meerdink.

While Alkmaar will be relatively pleased with the position they find themselves in, they would have liked to be placed higher in the table seven games into the League phase. Sitting 14th, a win could push them to the brink of the top eight.

However, they need a host of results to go their way in order to finish there, and they will mostly focus on being as high up the knockout standings as possible.

Scoring 10 and conceding 9 so far, they have been relatively solid at both ends, but they will want to end their league phase with a flourish, and they will be considered favourites going into this one.

Ferencvaros vs AZ Alkmaar Head to Head

Thursday will see Ferencvaros and AZ Alkmaar meet for the very first time, having never been drawn in the same group in the previous iteration of the competition.

Ferencvaros vs AZ Alkmaar Betting Tip

Both sides have proved somewhat surprisingly effective going forward, and we expect to see both sides display this too full effect here.

Utrecht will be the favourites here, but we reckon the game will be close enough for both sides to score a couple.

Ferencvaros vs AZ Alkmaar Final Prediction

Ferencvaros 2-2 AZ Alkmaar

It will certainly be an entertaining way to bring their league phase schedule to a close. However, Ferencvaros will certainly be holding their breath at full time, hoping that a draw is enough to see them scrape through into the knockout play-offs.