St Johnstone v Galatasaray betting tips: Saints target Turkish scalp
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St Johnstone v Galatasaray betting tips and odds
Saints have the chance to reach the Europa League play-off round when they take on Galatasaray in front of a full capacity crowd at McDiarmid Park on Thursday night.
The double cup winners continued their remarkable run under manager Callum Davidson with a 1-1 draw in Turkey and are 29/10 to pull off what would be one of the best results in their history.
It promises to be a great occasion in Perth so we’re taking a look at some of the markets and odds in our St Johnstone v Galatasaray betting tips.
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See you next Thursday, @StJohnstone 👋 https://t.co/QVuSuhvzZT
— Galatasaray EN (@Galatasaray) August 6, 2021
Match Odds
Saints have drawn all three of their matches this season and are available at 11/5 for a fourth or 27/10 for either 0-0 or 1-1 which was the case on each occasion.
Galatasaray’s domestic season does not get under way until the weekend but they are understandably evens favourites to beat Saints despite being without Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera who saw red for hauling down Chris Kane just before the hour mark.
Jason Kerr converted the resulting penalty but Gala soon levelled through French right-back Sacha Boey following a mistake by Reece Devine.
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— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) July 28, 2021
The Scottish side survived an early onslaught during which Mostafa Mohamed missed a sitter and Kerem Akturkoglu hit the post inside the first 10 minutes.
If Gala bring their scoring boots it could be a tough night for Saints, who conceded a goal 10 minutes from time to draw 1-1 with Motherwell on Sunday.
The Turkish giants are 23/10 to be leading at half-time and full-time or we go 7/2 on a draw at the break with Gala winning inside 90 minutes in our St Johnstone v Galatasaray betting tips.
At bigger odds, the visitors are 5/1 to win or draw, both teams to score in the second half and over 2.5 goals in the match bearing in mind Fatih Terim’s side managed to score with 10 men in the first leg.
Talking Tactics
Saints lined up in a 3-5-2 formation last week in which Kane and Michael O’Halloran led the attack against a team packed with former Premier League stars such as Ryan Babel, Patrick van Aanholt, DeAndre Yedlin and Mbaye Diagne, who spent the second half of the season trying to prevent West Brom from being relegated.
Former Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan and Radamel Falcao were also on the bench so this is a squad packed with quality even if some of their biggest names are past their best.
Muslera is suspended and is likely to be replaced by 21-year-old keeper Berk Balaban who played most of the second half in Turkey.
Goalscorer Odds
Falcao and Diagne, who scored in the home leg of Gala’s Champions League qualifier against PSV, are the 4/1 favourites to get the ball rolling on Thursday, with Mohamed and Babel regarded as 9/2 and 6/1 shots respectively.
Mohamed is 15/8 to score any time and Babel is 13/5, while full-back Van Aanholt is 13/2 to score his first competitive goal for the Turks following his exit from Crystal Palace.
Saints trio Callum Hendry, Kane and Stevie May are all 7/1 to break the deadlock, while O’Halloran is 8/1 and 7/2 just to score.
Match Info
Where: McDiarmid Park
When: 19:00, Thursday 12th August
How to watch: BBC iPlayer
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
