It’s the last game week of the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage and Hearts need to win this game if they want to qualify for the play-offs. They sit inside the play-off spots currently, but they are only one point off slipping out and being eliminated. Petrocub have no hope of qualifying for the play-offs, and their European adventure this season will end on Thursday.
Hearts’ last match in this competition came against Copenhagen when they lost 2-0 thanks to two second half goals. They started the competition strongly, with two wins, but have since lost all three games.
Petrocub have been really poor this season, but that is to be expected as they come from a league that is ranked 31st in Europe according to UEFA and the likely reason that it is that high is because of Sheriff’s incredible appearance in the Champions League a few years ago.
Hearts Predicted Lineup - Craig Gordon; James Penrice, Kye Rowles, Frankie Kent, Adam Forrester; Malachi Boateng, Cameron Devlin; Yan Dhanda, Lawrence Shankland, Alan Forrest; Kenneth Vargas
Hearts have been poor recently both in the Conference League and the Scottish Premiership. They are rock bottom of their domestic league having lost to Kilmarnock on Sunday and have slipped down the table as of late in Europe.
Lawrence Shankland has been playing a little bit deeper as of late, and while that hasn’t solved all of Hearts’ problems, he has been performing there. This season, he has three goals and three assists in the league as well as an assist in the Conference League too.
Petrocub Predicted Lineup - Silviu Smalenea; Dumitru Demian, Ion Bors, Victor Mudrac, Maxim Potirniche, Ion Jardan; Dan Puscas, Donalio Douania, Teodor Lungu, Vladimir Ambros; Sergiu Platica
Petrocub’s forward players are really struggling to get on the ball in the Conference League because of the high quality of the defenders in the competition. Dumitru Demian is one of their highest scorers in their domestic league from full back, but he hasn’t been involved in the attacking side of Petrocub’s European campaign.
The new format for the European tournaments have allowed teams that have never played each other to meet each other in the league phase. It comes as no surprise that Hearts have never faced Petrocub, or any other Moldovan side, in their European history.
Hearts are at home and have the pressure of needing to win this game, so I think that they will do it. They are the better side, that is clear, and have at least some European experience in their squad. Petrocub only have a handful of players who have played outside of Moldova, and the majority are for teams in the Georgian, Armenian, Russian and Belarussian leagues.
With all of this in mind, our team of professional experts have decided that the best tip for this game is for Hearts to Win to Nil. Odds of 4/5 on Parimatch means that a £10 bet could see a potential return of £18.
(odds subject to change)
Hearts 2-0 Petrocub
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