By Betsefy
AZ Alkmaar and Gil Vicente will begin their battle for a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage on Thursday, when they square off in the first leg of their playoff tie in the Netherlands.
The Portuguese outfit cruised past Riga in the previous round, while their hosts dished out a thrashing to Dundee United in their third-round second leg after a slight scare.
Match preview
Vangelis Pavlidis is bound to play an important role in attack, having already netted five goals and provided four assists in six appearances across Eredivisie and Conference League action so far this season, while Dani de Wit is another key man going forward and will again play just behind the lone striker.
Jordy Clasie and Tijjani Reijnders will operate at the base of midfield, with Bruno Martins Indi, who boasts 36 Netherlands caps, set to captain the team from the heart of the defence.
Gil Vicente boss Vieira only made one change to their starting XI between the second-leg win over Riga and the clash with Arouca at the weekend, and we should again see a familiar setup on Thursday.
Fran Navarro will again lead the line after his double in that 4-0 win, while Ali Alipour will also be hoping for a starting berth, having scored the winner against Pacos de Ferreira off the bench on his debut after a summer switch from Maritimo.
Elsewhere, Kevin Villodres and Juan Manuel Boselli are set to feature on the wings with Vitor Carvalho continuing to anchor the midfield, likely behind Kanya Fujimoto and Pedro Tiba.
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Verhulst; Chatzidiakos, Martins Indi, Beukema, Kerkez; Clasie, Reijnders; Evjen, De Wit, Van Brederode; Pavlidis
Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Andrew; Veiga, Fernandes, Cunha, Gomes; Tiba, Carvalho, Fujimoto; Villodres, Navarro, Boselli
Our Prediction
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