Europa League
2025-08-14 - Utrecht vs Servette
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round Second Leg
Thursday 14th August 2025 - Kick Off 7pm
Preview
The early goalscoring power shown by Utrecht bodes well for a club that have returned to European Football for the first time in six years. The last adventure ended prematurely in the Second Qualifying Round of the Europa League, but Utrecht are very much on course to reach the Play Off Round this season having beaten Servette 1-3 in Switzerland in the First Leg.
For the second home European tie in a row, Servette scored first, but ultimately were seen off 1-3 after doing the same in the Champions League against Viktoria Plzen. They were actually 2-0 ahead on aggregate when taking the lead at home, but Servette were not able to show enough resiliency at the back and they paid the price.
Turning this around in the Netherlands looks a big ask for Servette, even when taking into account the fact they won in Plzen in the Champions League Second Qualifying Round First Leg. They were absolutely battered in that fixture, but held on, and it may be tougher to do that knowing they need to score at least twice to have any hope of progressing to the Europa League Play Off Round and not dropping into a third UEFA competition before September.
It looks a tough task considering the early season form shown by Servette with the high point being that opening win at Viktoria Plzen. Since then, Servette have not won any of 5 games in all competitions and they had lost 4 in a row before the 1-1 draw with Grasshoppers this past weekend.
The real worry has to be the amount of goals Servette have been conceding, while a 3-1 loss at Young Boys means the team have lost 3 of their last 5 away games in all competitions.
Now they have to face a Utrecht team that scored seven goals in crushing Sheriff Tiraspol in the Second Qualifying Round of the Europa League and who just beat Heracles 4-0 at home in the Eredivisie opener. It means Utrecht have scored at least three goals in all 4 games played this season and all have unsurprisingly ended in victories.
Going back to last season, Utrecht have won 5 of their last 6 at home in all competitions and that includes crushing Ajax here.
This is the first competitive fixture between these clubs hosted by Utrecht.
Prediction
There can be some patience used in this Second Leg by the home team having secured a two goal lead last week, but it is not always the way for teams playing out of the Netherlands.
Instead Utrecht will want to keep the momentum behind their football and it is the Dutch approach to want to get forward and score goals.
That has not been an issue for Utrecht early in this season with the team winning all 4 games played in all competitions and scoring at least three goals in each. They have also been a team that have been winning a lot of home football matches and scoring a lot of goals here and so it looks a big, big ask for Servette to turn things around.
Making it tougher is the poor early form shown by Servette who had lost 4 in a row in all competitions and conceded at least three goals in each defeat before the 1-1 draw with Grasshoppers. This is a team that have shown some resiliency in away games in Europe, but Servette cannot afford to sit back for too long in this one and Utrecht should be able to show off their final third strengths at some point.
The Pick :
Utrecht 3-1 Servette
