Prediction for Shamrock Rovers vs Ararat-Armenia
At home, Shamrock Rovers turn into a different team. Five wins in their last six matches on their own pitch, three of their last four games in Dublin won by a margin of two goals or more. On top of that, the Irish side are in the thick of their season: first place in the League of Ireland, 50 points from 25 rounds.
The main argument is the scenario Shamrock Rovers have already lived through two weeks ago. In the first qualifying round Stephen Bradley’s team were beaten 0:2 in Malta, then returned to Tallaght and destroyed Floriana FC 5:1, with 19 shots and 13 on target. Now everything is a mirror image: the same 0:2, the same stadium, the same need to score three times in 90 minutes. The Irish cannot afford to sit back.
There are absences in attack: Danny Mandroiu, Rory Gaffney, Danny Grant and Victor Ozhianvuna are all out. But Bradley sends out two strikers from the start — Aaron Greene and Graham Burke — with wing-backs Tunmise Sobowale and Adam Brennan covering the flanks. This is a line-up built to attack.
Ararat-Armenia do not know how to shut up shop. Manuel Tulipa builds the team’s play around a front three of Artur Serobyan, Sandro Lima and Zhirayr Shaghoyan, and in their only away match of qualifying the Armenians collapsed at the back: 2:3 in Riga, two conceded in the first 25 minutes, five goals on the scoreboard. Add in that the Armenian league does not start until August — the visitors have had minimal competitive action, and their legs will go by the closing stages.
Ararat’s win in the first meeting should not fool anyone. It was 0:0 at half-time, both goals came in the second half when the game opened up. In Dublin the spaces will appear from the very first minutes: the hosts will throw everyone forward, the visitors will answer with counter-attacks through Sandro Lima, who scores in every round.
One side are obliged to take risks, the other are obliged to respond. Three or more goals is the most logical outcome of the evening.
