After a thrilling 2-2 draw in Sweden, Aberdeen bring BK Hacken back to Pittodrie on Thursday 31 August as they aim to reach the Europa League group stage.
Aberdeen vs BK Hacken tips:
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The Dons staged an impressive comeback as Bojan Miovski and Nicky Devlin scored to level things in Sweden. The Scottish side were also boosted as Johan Hammar was shown a late red card. It didn’t affect the outcome of the first leg, but it will mean that the influential centre-back misses the second leg.
Aberdeen can welcome Pape Habib Guèye into their squad having signed the striker from KV Kortrijk as Barry Robson makes him their 12th summer signing. Given that Aberdeen improved after the subs came on last week, the manager may be tempted to ring the changes.
Aberdeen to win and BTTS
Hacken are leaking goals. They went 4-0 down at the weekend to rivals IFK Goteborg before pulling two late goals back and after throwing away a two-goal lead against Aberdeen, their confidence is shot.
Without Hammar, they are likely to be even more susceptible to conceding goals, however what we have seen over the past few weeks is that they know how to score goals. They scored 12 in their last four outings and will certainly test Aberdeen’s defence.
However, on home soil, the Dons should have enough to get through. They proved last week they can cause problems and given the away side don’t look good defensively, while they also lost 5-1 to Aberdeen at Pittodrie two years ago. We could be in for a cracking tie.
Aberdeen to score in both halves
Hacken are aiming to reach the group stage of the Europa League for the first time in their history, but they could be put to the sword by Aberdeen. Given we believe both teams will score and the home side will come out victorious, another way to back this could be to back Aberdeen to score in both halves.
They did so in their 2-2 draw with St Mirren at the weekend and having scored twice in Sweden, they can do so again here. Robson will make sure his side come out of the blocks firing and an early goal will have them on track for qualification. Hacken will then have to come back into it, which could lead to an end-to-end encounter in which the home side have to score again.
At 9/4, this feels like a good pick.
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