Sparta Prague vs Shamrock Rovers Prediction: Merciless Czechs to show gulf in class

Shamrock Rovers begin their Uefa Conference League schedule with a trip to the Czech Republic to face Sparta Prague on Thursday (20:00 BST, TNT Sports 5). And they will be hoping to fare far better than when these two teams met in last season's Champions League qualifiers, a tie Sparta won 6-2 on aggregate.

Below are my Sparta Prague vs Shamrock Rovers predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Sparta will play their usual 3-4-3 with eight-goal Serbia international Veljko Birmancevic and eight-goal Kosovo international Albion Rrahmani leading the line alongside John Mercado.

Football Odds

Rovers boss Stephen Bradley is expected to swap out one of his attacking midfielders, either Graham Burke or Danny Mandriou, to accommodate a more defensively-minded player.

Today's Football Fixtures

Sparta Prague vs Shamrock Rovers Odds

It is no great surprise that Sparta are just 2/9 for this fixture, with Rovers available at 14/1, implying a 6.7% chance of success. That's a bigger price than a 4-0 Sparta win correct score (10/1).

The draw, meanwhile, is priced at 5/1.

Sparta Prague Win & Over 3.5 Goals @ 2/1

Czech league leaders Sparta were slick and impressive when they beat Rovers 4-2 in the second leg of a Champions League qualifier just over 12 months ago, and there is no evidence they are any weaker this season.

They went on to make the league phase of the Champions League, though that campaign ended badly with some heavy defeats at the hands of sides like Manchester City and Atletico Madrid.

This should be far more to their liking, and they go into the league phase with a spring in their step, having won three in a row and 13 of their last 15 matches in all competitions.

They have won all eight home fixtures this season and are full of goals, with seven of their victories in games featuring four goals or more. This should be the eighth.

League of Ireland leaders Rovers are themselves going well on a 10-game unbeaten run with seven wins.

And winning 2-1 at Portuguese Primeira Liga side Santa Clara in the play-off round was a huge confidence boost.

Sparta are big guns, though, a winning machine at home, and their relentless attacking ought to yield a high-scoring home win.

John Mercado anytime scorer @ 9/5

Birmancevic and Rrahmani have shared 16 goals for Sparta this season and are a real handful.

But they are getting able support from another international marksman, Ecuador's Mercado, who is taken to find the net at the Letna Stadion at 9/5.

Mercado, who was playing in Portugal's Primeira Liga for AVS last term, was a summer coup for Sparta and, after taking a while to find his feet, has banged in two goals in his last two starts.

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