Thursday evening sees the return of the UEFA Conference League, and it’s now time for things to get very serious indeed as we’ve reached the play-offs. 16 teams battle it out for the right to join the top eight from the league phase in the knockouts.
Hosts Gent will be looking to get a positive result ahead of their trip to Andalusia, where they’ll take on Real Betis at what will be a hostile Benito Villamarin. Can the Belgians give themselves a lead ahead of the second leg? We’ll find out at Planet Group Arena.
Gent vs Real Betis prediction
For the Gent vs Real Betis match prediction, we believe the final score will be a 0-0 draw based on our analysis.
The hosts will be keen to get the job done here, but against a visiting team that will be happy to nullify, keep the ball and frustrate, it could be tricky, especially as they’ve not scored bundles at home in recent times.
Our Gent vs Real Betis predictions and tips:
Under 2.5 Goals @ 21/20 with BoyleSports
Gent vs Real Betis betting odds
The table below shows the probabilities implied by the match result odds ahead of this match, as well as our adjusted probabilities and the differences.
Gent vs Real Betis head-to-head statistics
There is no head-to-head record for this fixture. This will be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs.
Gent vs Real Betis preview
This match will be played on 13/02/2025 at Planet Group Arena. Kick off will be at 20:00 GMT.
Having reached the quarter-finals of this competition during the 2022-23 season, the men from Gent will be hoping to make it through to the knockouts, though after a less than entirely pleasing league phase, the hosts have handed themselves the tricky task of taking on Real Betis in this play-off round.
At the weekend, Thursday’s hosts stuttered their way to a 3-3 draw away to Mechelen, which probably isn’t the ideal preparation for a match of this nature, though they have at least been tough to beat in recent times, losing none of their last five.
At home, the managed Wouter Vrancken’s men have lost just one of their last nine, six of which they’ve won. What’s really positive is the fact that they’ve kept their opponents out in six of those nine.
For the Spanish visitors, not going through to the knockouts as one of the top eight will have been a disappointment, that’s for sure, though over two legs, they’ll surely fancy themselves to get the job done here.
Much like the hosts, though, the visitors haven’t exactly sparkled ahead of this fixture, winning none of their last two, losing away to a lowly Celta Vigo side at the weekend, conceding three goals in the process.
The Andalusians have now won just one of their last six games in all competitions, which let’s face it, isn’t exactly what the doctor ordered ahead of a big continental mission.
Gent vs Real Betis betting tips
One betting opportunity stands out ahead of Thursday’s game at Planet Group Arena.
Under 2.5 Goals
In general, two-legged ties don’t really inspire the same do-or-die attitude amongst players that one-off cup games do, so it’s reasonable to assume that both teams will adopt a more cautious approach during the first leg.
What’s more, we have a Gent side that isn’t really conceding many goals at home, keeping six clean sheets in their last nine at Planet Group Arena, as mentioned above, while they’ve also kept three clean sheets in four home UEFA Conference League games this season.
It’s also worth mentioning that things have been rather low-key for the Spaniards on the road in this competition, with only one of their four away games containing more than two goals. Two of the other three contained just a single goal, while Betis’ secured their play-off place thanks to a 1-0 home win against HJK, so it’s fair to say that they’ve not gone crazy in terms of goals on the continent this season.
A further stat that makes a less than high-scoring game appeal at the early odds is that there’s been an average of just 1.83 goals scored in Betis’ Conference League games this season.
To be honest, I’m really not sure that everything above has been built into the early odds enough, leaving ‘Under 2.5 Goals’ to be available at a more appealing price than it likely should be (and likely will be by the time kick-off comes around).
Recap - Gent vs Real Betis betting tips
Here’s a reminder of our Gent vs Real Betis betting tips:
Under 2.5 Goals @ 21/20 with BoyleSports
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