Cercle Brugge vs Kilmarnock Prediction: Denkey to land first blow to Killie’s EL hopes

Cercle Brugge and Kilmarnock played out a 1-1 draw at Rugby Park in the first leg of their Europa League second qualifying round tie last week, and the pair meet again this Thursday (19:00), this time in Belgium at the Jan Breydel Stadion.

Read below for my Cercle Brugge vs Kilmarnock prediction and all the latest team news ahead of this second leg in Brugge.

Football Odds

Team News

Cercle Brugge were in action on the weekend as they fell to a 3-0 defeat at Westerlo in their Jupiler Pro League season opener. Head coach Miron Muslic made three changes to his starting XI from the one that lined up against Kilmarnock, leaving out Edgaras Utkus, Abdoul Kader Ouattara and Kazeem Olaigbe for Boris Popovic, Felipe Augusto and Lawrence Agyekum.

Olaigbe is bound to be restored to the side after his goalscoring exploits in Scotland, while the other two could be in line for a return, too.

Kilmarnock had the weekend off so have no new injury concerns to report, but Derek McInnes could be tempted into a change or two for Thursday's trip to Brugge.

Fraser Murray and Bruce Anderson are among those pushing for starts to support talismanic striker Kyle Vassell.

Cercle Brugge vs Kilmarnock Odds

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The Belgians have been installed as heavy favourites to triumph in regulation time on Thursday, with odds of 2/5 giving them an implied win probability of 71.4%, while Kilmarnock are 11/2, or a 15.4% chance, to win inside 90 minutes. A draw, which would send the tie to extra-time in Brugge, can be backed at 16/5.

Both teams to score is 8/11 and over 2.5 total goals is 4/7.

Cercle Brugge to win & under 3.5 total goals (90 mins) @ 13/10

Cercle fell to an embarrassing 3-0 defeat at Westerlo - a side that finished 17 points behind them in the Jupiler Pro League last season - on Sunday, and will be desperate to bounce back with a win in European competition.

After avoiding defeat in Scotland, the Belgians should be confident of triumphing on their own patch, especially considering the limitations in the Killie ranks.

McInnes made Killie a tough team to beat in last season's Scottish Premiership - only Celtic (30), Rangers (32) and Hearts (42) conceded fewer times than their tally of 44 - and the 53-year-old will be hopeful of grinding out another gritty draw and taking Cercle into extra-time on Thursday.

However, Cercle's quality should shine through, and I think they can get the job done without the need for an extra 30 minutes on the clock.

Kevin Denkey first scorer (90 mins) @ 12/5

Kevin Denkey stormed to the Jupiler Pro League Golden Boot last season, firing 27 goals en route to helping Cercle to a fourth-place finish. The Togo international struck eight more times than his nearest rival Anders Dreyer, who scored 19 goals for Anderlecht.

Despite his heroics, Denkey remains a Cercle player, though there is still time left for clubs to swoop in and take him away from Brugge.

While he is there, though, his club will be looking to take advantage of him, and he himself will want to get off the mark for the season after blanking in the first leg against Killie and against Westerlo.

Denkey is only 7/10 to score anytime on Thursday, so backing him to find the net first at 12/5 looks the best play here.

Offers

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