Jagiellonia and AFC Ajax Amsterdam square off at the Białystok City Stadium in the first leg of their Europa League playoff clash on Thursday. The winner of this round will secure their place in the group stages while the loser drops down to the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Jagiellonia failed to stop the rot last Saturday as they fell to a 4-2 defeat against Cracovia at the Białystok City Stadium in the Polish Ekstraklasa.
Adrian Siemieniec’s men will now get their campaign underway in the Europa League qualifiers after they were dumped out of the Champions League qualifying race courtesy of a 5-1 aggregate loss to Bodo/Glimt.
Jagiellonia fell to a 1-0 home defeat in the first leg against Glimt on August 7, one week before they were thrashed 4-1 in the return leg at the Aspmyra Stadion.
Ajax, on the other hand, failed to make it two wins from two in the new Eredivisie campaign as they fell to a 2-1 loss against NAC Breda at the Rat Verlegh Stadion on Sunday.
Francesco Farioli’s side now turn their attention to the Europa League qualifiers, where they kicked off their campaign with a 4-1 aggregate win over Vojvodina before claiming a dramatic penalty-shootout victory over Panathinaikos in the third round.
Having edged out Panathinaikos 1-0 in Greece on August 8, Ajax fell to a 1-0 home loss in the return leg to take the tie on penalties, where they prevailed 13-12 in a breathtaking shootout.
Jagiellonia vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam Head-To-Head and Key Numbers
- This will be the first-ever meeting between Jagiellonia and Ajax, who will both be looking to begin their rivalry on a positive note.
- Ajax have won eight of their last 10 matches across all competitions while scoring 16 goals and keeping five clean sheets since July 9.
- Jagiellonia are unbeaten in six of their last eight competitive home games, picking up five wins and one draw since mid April.
- Ajax have lost just one of their last five away matches across all competitions while claiming three wins and one draw since the start of May.
Jagiellonia vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam Prediction
Off the back of disappointing league results, Jagiellonia and Ajax will head into Thursday’s matchup looking to bounce back and secure a vital first-leg advantage. Given the gulf in quality and experience between the two teams, we are backing the Eredivisie giants to come away with the desired result.
Prediction: Jagiellonia 1-3 AFC Ajax Amsterdam
Jagiellonia vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam Betting Tips
Tip 1: Result - Ajax to win
Tip 2: First to score - Ajax (The visitors have opened the scoring in eight of their last 10 matches)
Tip 3: Over 10.5 corners - No (There have also been fewer than 11 corner kicks in Ajax’s last six games)