Linfield vs Sutjeska Niksic Predictions

Linfield continue their incredible European adventure on Tuesday night as they meet Sutjeska at home in the Europa League. These two sides clash with the hosts 2-1 up from the first leg, but will the visitors turn things around? It’s hard to see Sutjeksa improving their recent poor form, while their limited European experience is another disadvantage. Linfield are going from strength and strength this summer and they’re likely to continue that in this second leg.

It’s been a brilliant summer for David Healy and Linfield, as they have made a fantastic run in Europe so far. They haven’t made it past the second qualifying round in the modern era of European football, while they are now 90 minutes away from making the playoff round, a step away from the group stage. It’s a marked improvement not just for the hosts, but for any Northern Irish side in European competition. That’s the pressure Linfield are dealing with going into this second leg, but they are in a wonderful position

Not only are Linfield leading against Sutjeska, but the visitors are on a really poor run of their own in Europe. They head into this clash with just six seasons worth of European football behind them, but the Montenegrin outfit have lost half of their matches so far. In the Europa League, they’ve failed to win any of their last five, while they’ve already crashed out of the Champions League this term. They’ve faced five games in Europe this summer and failed to win any, which isn’t a great sign.

The visitors drew 1-1 in their first-round matches in the Europa League, before losing their following three ties. The home defeat to Linfield was alarming, while it has set up the hosts for a possible clash with either APOEL or Qarabag, with the loser from that Champions League tie dropping into the Europa League. They will be the side standing between Linfield and the group stage if they can claim a positive result in this second leg.

Linfield are on a three-game winning run in Europe, which means morale will be high in the camp. They are facing beatable opposition who have lost three of their last five games in this competition. With Sutjeska coming here with a terrible European record in 2019, we think the Blues are worthy favourites. Their price seems great considering the respective runs of these two teams, so we’re siding with Linfield for a victory this week.