Ajax v Rostov Betting Tip

Two 2015/16 season runners-up take each other on for the right to a place in the lucrative Champions League group stages.

Ajax have had another typical transfer window for them, they have had to sell their star player in Arkadiusz Milik to Napoli as well as several other players from the spine of their team. In return, they have secured a couple of young talents from the Colombian league who will likely develop and be sold on for a profit.

The Amsterdam side have not made the best start to the league season and life under new manager Peter Bosz following Frank de Boer’s departure to Inter. They currently sit in fifth place after a draw at home to Roda JC. Defence is their weak spot as they have yet to keep a clean sheet this season.

It’s been a turbulent couple of weeks at Rostov, firstly they surprised everybody by recovering from two away goals down to get passed Anderlecht in the Champions League. Then, from glory to misery, manager Kurban Berdyev suddenly announces his resignation and then to compound it all; on Friday night they threw away a 2-0 lead and lost 3-2 to Zenit St. Petersburg in the Russian Premier League.

The finger can be pointed firmly at captain Aleksandr Gatskan whose silly sending off just before half time (at which point they were 2-0 up) gave Zenit a sniff of hope, which they took full advantage of.

However, if Rostov can keep their discipline, they have a chance against the Dutchmen. Ajax are incredibly wary, and perhaps even slightly worried, by the prospect  of facing Dmitri Kirichenko’s men.

Ajax are the huge favourites for this match with Rostov. Despite this, I feel Rostov have a good chance and would certainly look at backing them at 23/5 – incredibly good value.

As previously mentioned, Ajax’s defence is their weak spot and I expect Rostov to take advantage of this by scoring that all important away goal. You can then rely on their extremely good defence to see the match out – Ajax are not used to coming up against backlines as tight as Rostov’s.

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