On Thursday night, Premier League Everton face a potentially tricky trip to Slovakian side Ruzomberok in the Europa League third qualifying round second leg.
The home side will have been pleased to survive the trip to Merseyside with just a 1-0 defeat from the first leg. However, in truth, the Slovakian side had chances of their own to score and will lament the fact that they did manage to score an away goal.
Ruzomberok returned to domestic action at the weekend with a 4-0 win over Senica. However, the home game against the Toffees should be much tougher.
The home side have lost two of their last three home games in the Europa League, losing 1-0 against Club Brugge and Brann. Between those games, they did record a 2-0 victory over Vojvodina on home soil, which was in the first qualifying round of this competition.
Everton will be disappointed to be heading into this clash with such a slender lead after the first leg. The Toffees looked slightly off the pace in the first leg, as it was their earliest ever competitive game in European competition.
Ronald Koeman’s side should be slightly sharper after another week of pre-season training under their belts, though. Spanish striker Sandro made his competitive debut for the Merseysiders as a substitute in the first leg, but could well start this game.
Everton have a mixed recent record on their travels in this competition. However, they suffered a 5-2 defeat at Dynamo Kiev in their last away game in Europe back in 2015. Prior to the defeat in the Ukraine, they were unbeaten in four European games on their travels.
Everton were favourites to progress to the next round before the first leg. Forebet predicts that the Toffees will complete the job and record a victory in Slovakia to progress to the play-off stage of the Europa League.