Ajax host Young Boys in a UEFA Europa League round of 16 first-leg clash at the Johan Cruyff Arena. The Dutch champions have been one of the impressive sides in the competition this season and given their solid home form, should make light work of a Swiss side that has looked off-colour lately.
The Dutch team progressed to this stage of the competition thanks to a 4-2 aggregate victory over Lille in the round of 32. They beat the French side home and away with both fixtures ending 2-1.
Ajax warmed up for the visit of Young Boys with a routine 3-1 victory over Groningen in an Eredivisie clash on Sunday. The result means that they have now gone 18 matches across all competitions without tasting defeat.
Eric Ten Hag’s men are almost unstoppable at the Johan Cruyff Arena as they head into Thursday’s match with six straight home wins across all competitions. They often score plenty of goals and boast multiple attacking threats in their team.
Young Boys were also impressive in the previous round of the Europa League as they knocked out German side Bayer Leverkusen 6-3 on aggregate. After claiming a 4-3 victory at home, they triumphed 2-0 in Germany with Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu and Christian Fassnacht scoring twice each across both legs.
Things have not gone according to plan lately for Gerardo Seoane's men, who have failed to secure a win since beating Leverkusen. They warmed up for the trip to Amsterdam with a 1-1 home draw with struggling Vaduz in the Swiss Super League.
Young Boys have been unconvincing on their travels in the Europa League with just three wins from their last 19 matches in the competition.
How the bookies view it
Ajax are favourites among the bookies and are backed at 14/19 by SBK to secure a home win. Young Boys are considered outsiders with BetVictor offering 17/4 for an away win while a draw is priced at 16/5 by Vbet.
Ajax’s formidable record at the Johan Cruyff Arena means I am leaning towards a home win here.
Head to head
This will be the first-ever meeting between Ajax and Young Boys.
Players to watch
Sebastian Haller remains unavailable Ajax in Europe so Dusan Tadic will be the one to watch on Thursday. The Serbian attacker is priced at 6/4 by Unibet to score anytime while midfielder Davy Klaasen could also be worth a punt in the same market with Unibet offering 23/10.
Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu and Christian Fassnacht have both impressed for Young Boys in recent weeks and will be the ones to watch on Thursday. Siebatcheu is priced at 21/10 by Unibet to score anytime while bet365 has Fassnacht at 3/1 in the same market.
Anything else catch the eye?
There is plenty of attacking talent on display in this one so a punt in the goals market could provide some reward. Betway is offering 3/4 on both teams to score, over 2.5 goals is valued at 3/4 by BetVictor while over 3.5 goals is priced at 19/10 by the same firm.
There could also be some value in a win/goals combination with betway offering 6/4 on an Ajax victory and over 2.5 goals. A win/score double with Ajax and Dusan Tadic could also be considered at 18/10 with bet365 while the Dutch team could also be backed to earn a halftime win at 13/10 with William Hill.
This UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Young Boys will be played on Mar 11, 2021 and kick off at 17:55. Check below for our tipsters best Ajax vs Young Boys prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
