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Valur v St Mirren
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Kick Off: Thursday 25th July at 19:45
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Competition: Europa Conference League Qualifiers
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Watch Live: SolidSport
St Mirren will seek to profit from their exceptional Premiership campaign last season to make progress in the Europa Conference League, in which they face Icelandic side Valur in the second qualifying round.
This will be the Buddies’ first competitive match of the campaign, and they will come up against an opponent that has played nearly 30 fixtures across all competitions.
Can Stephen Robinson mastermind a victory in this potentially treacherous tie?
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Valur v St Mirren Best Bets
Scottish clubs have consistently found this type of match difficult to negotiate in recent years, making the price of 1.50 with Paddy Power for Valur to win or draw this encounter solid value, particularly given the injury issues dogging the travelling side.
Given Saints’ last two friendlies have finished 2-2, which was also the result of Valur’s previous European home match, Both Teams to Score at 1.5 with Betfair also looks tempting.
📂 Valur v St Mirren Cheat Sheet
Cheat Sheet pending…
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You can find match stats for every televised game across Europe’s biggest leagues on my bet builder stats tool, along with official line-ups one hour before kick-off.
📊 Valur Form and Stats
Valur are undefeated at home this season across all competitions in 90 minutes. In Iceland’s top flight, they boast four wins and three draws, scoring 19 and conceding seven.
In their previous home match in Europe, played against KF Vllaznia on July 11, they were held to a 2-2 draw by opponents who finished the game with 10 men. It took a very late goal from Lukas Logi Heimisson to level that game.
The second leg was a rather more one-sided affair, finishing 4-0 in their favour, with three of these strikes coming in the first half. Right winger Gudmundur Andri Tryggvason was on target. He has netted in both continental games but has no league goals this season.
Instead, Patrick Pedersen and Jonatan Ingi Jonsson have been their main threats domestically, scoring nine and seven respectively in 13 league outings.
Gylfi Sigurdsson has a history of being a threat, too. Having joined the club in March, the former Everton player has gone on to score five times and create three more goals in just seven top-flight games.
In the cards market, Kristinn Freyr Sigurdsson has been booked in both European matches to date this season and also leads the way with four league bookings. Sigurdsson is one to watch here, too. The 34-year-old has been booked three times in just 583 top-flight minutes this season.
📊 St Mirren Form and Stats
St Mirren approach this game with just a series of pre-season friendlies under their belts. These have resulted in underwhelming scorelines, with 2-2 draws achieved against both Fleetwood Town and Carlisle United, both clubs that reside in EFL League Two. The management have written these fixtures off simply as fitness exercises.
Across Saints’ four warm-up games, only striker Toyosi Olusanya has managed to net in more than one fixture, although Roland Idowu matches his tally of two goals, having struck twice in a 2-0 win against Morton.
Olusanya is liable to be in direct competition with last season’s top scorer Mikael Mandron, and with the Frenchman goalless so far this summer, it may well be the former who gets the nod for this match.
Mark O’Hara, meanwhile, is a scoring threat from his position in midfield. The captain has 20 goals across the last couple of campaigns and will be hoping to make a big impression in this game.
Saints’ offensive power, though, may be hampered by an injury to winger Greg Kiltie. He led the way last season with seven assists, including five in the Premiership. With Conor McMenamin also out, Robinson faces a conundrum as to who starts wide on the left.
The left was a source of great joy last term, with left-back Scott Tanser chipping in three goals and five assists, yet the 28-year-old has not featured since being injured against Morton on July 9 and is also doubtful. This means the flank could go from being a source of strength to one of weakness.
Alex Gogic picked up seven yellow cards in the Premiership last season, making him a prime candidate to be shown a card here. Similarly, Olusanya was shown six cards at a rate of 0.37 per 90, making him arguably the leading candidate for the Saints to go into the referee’s notebook.
⚔️ Valur v St Mirren Head-to-Head
This will be the first meeting of Valur and St Mirren.
Value, who are playing their first European match since 2021/22, have faced Scottish opponents on two previous occasions. These games did not go well for them. In 1975/76, they lost 9-0 to Celtic on aggregate in the Cup Winners’ Cup while in 1993/94 they were beaten 7-0 by Aberdeen in the same competition.
St Mirren, meanwhile, have not been in Europe for close to 40 years. Their last continental adventure was in 1987/88. They have never faced Icelandic opponents.
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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