Our prediction for this Europa Conference League match:
Astana
Match Time & Date:
05/10/2023
16:30
Prediction: 1-2
Plzen
Astana and Plzen go head to head at Astana Arena in the opening match of Thursday’s program. The Kazakhs experienced all sorts of problems at the back in a massive 5-1 loss to Dinamo Zagreb in their opener and they face yet another uphill task against Plzen. Abzal Beysebakov has overcome his injury, while Andrija Filipovic is pushing for a start after coming as a substitute in a 2-0 loss to Aktobe at the weekend.
Miroslav Koubek’s men, on the other hand, managed to break the deadlock against FC Ballkani in their opener, with Lukas Kalvach likely to step up. Plzen are more of a team than Astana and seeing that the Kazakhs struggle at the back, away win should be considered. Ibrahim Traore limped off with injury in a 2-1 loss to Sparta Prague, with Tomas Chory likely to step up, while both Havel and Pernica remain in the recovery room.
Highlighted Team (Astana):
Astana are a Kazakh football club which was founded in 2009. The Blue and Yellows won their first domestic trophy in 2014, with the team finishing the regular part of the season in third place in the standings. However, thanks to their brilliant displays in the Championship round Astana won the national championship.
The big-spending Kazakh club have always been attracting high-profile footballers from Russia and Ukraine and it has to be noted that the likes of Yegor Titov, Andrey Tikhonov and Maksim Shatshikh played for the Blue and Yellows in the past. Nowadays Astana are considered the best football club in Kazakhstan and you should bear in mind that they won their third consecutive league title in 2016.
However, participating in the 2015/2016 Champions League group stages is considered the club’s biggest success. Astana faced the likes of Benfica, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray in Group C and they collected 4 points from possible 18 in the process. It has to be noted that they shared the spoils with Diego Simeone’s men at their Astana Arena.
Brighton
Southampton
Barcelona
Las Palmas 
Crystal Palace
Newcastle 
Borussia Dortmund 
Bayern Munich 
West Ham
Arsenal
Chelsea 
Aston Villa 
