Aron Wright - July 16, 2018

FK Vardar Skopje vs Pyunik
Europa League First qualifying round
Date: Thursday, 19 July 2018
Kick-Off at 18:00 UK/ 19:00 CET
Venue: Telekom Arena (Skopje)

Vardar have struggled to return to the winning ways through their pre-season and the narrow 1-0 loss seen at Pyunik extended a five-game winless streak on their end, as they host the Armenian rivals desperate to finally end the unwanted series.

Red & Blacks have seen a troubled spell of form at Telekom Arena late in the Macedonian First League too, only ending a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over Akademija Pandev. They have been scoring more goals recently here, though, which does promise a great challenge on the day as Boban Babunski’s men look to overturn the one-goal advantage.

Pyunik have, interestingly, played just one pre-season match and we’ve seen a 1-1 draw at Nizhny Novgorod. They could now lack the competitive edge and this could mean trouble in Skopje, where we expect to see them motivated to keep it together at the back. They’ve netted six goals in last two Premier League trips (still beaten by Gandzasar but beating Shirak), which surely has Andrey Talalaev hopeful too.

FK Vardar Skopje vs Pyunik: Head-to-head

• This is the sides’ first head-to-head encounter ever.
• Vardar Skopje came as slight favourites in the first leg but still suffered a narrow loss at Vazgen Sargsyan anvan Hanrapetakan Marzadasht.
• Both sides come into the matchup amid rather unpredictable spells of form, which has a clash tough to call in the making.

FK Vardar Skopje vs Pyunik: Prediction

We will now back Vardar to overturn the advantage and Qualify to the next round, which comes at 1.53 and has been rated banker material by many in the know already. They have more depth in quality but also a lot to prove on the day, where we believe they have what it takes to finally return to the winning ways.

We don’t expect to see many goals on the day either and we’ll thus back Under 2.5 goals FT at 1.57, which has also attracted a lot of support after seeing a very narrow contest in the first leg. We don’t feel Pyunik will be an easy nut to crack and this does have us keeping our faith we won’t see many goals here.

FK Vardar Skopje vs Pyunik: Bet Tips

• Vardar to Qualify @ 1.53

• Under 2.5 goals FT @ 1.57.