Hannover eliminated very good Sevilla side to reach the Europa League group stages, and the Germand are now hoping for a winning start to their European campaign. Standard Liege beat Swedish Helsingborg in the final qualifying round, but the Belgians are likely to face a tough task in Germany.

Hannover looking for improvement

Hannover 96 were the surprise package of last year’s Bundesliga, with Mirko Slomka’s side doing so well that they almost managed to beat mighty Bayern to the final Champions League berth. Nonetheless, the 96ers were more than happy with a chance to fight for the place in Europa League group stages and they did great to achieve that goal, having beaten very good Sevilla side 3:2 on aggregate. Mirko Slomka’s men have had a bright start to their Bundesliga campaign as well, taking 8 points from first 4 games, although the weekend’s 3:0 defeat to Stuttgart is something they will be looking to forget as soon as possible. Team’s top scorer Mohammed Abdellaoue was sorely missed against the Swabians, but now that he is back to the starting line-up, we should see a big improvement in the scoring department. Abdellaoue and Didier Ya Konan currently form one of the best attacking partnership in Germany.

Back-up keeper Markus Miller remains sidelined, while Mohammed Abdellaoue returns to the starting line-up.

Standard getting weaker by the minute

Just few years back, Standard ruled the Belgian league with players like Defour, Witsel, De Camargo, Jovanovic and others, and the club management realized that they had a unique opportunity to cash in on their star footballers, so they basically decided to sell everyone who had an offer from abroad. They stayed without four key players only this summer, as Axel Witsel, Steven Defour, Mehdi Carcela and Eliaquim Mangala all left, so nobody was surprised to see the team struggling at the start of the season. After being eliminated by Zurich in the Champions League 3rd qualifying round, Standard managed to beat Helsingborg to reach Europa League group stages, but one of the top Bundesliga sides are likely to prove too much for them at the moment. Standard have stabilized their form of late, but there is an evident lack of talent and experience in the squad, which will be more than evident in this clash.

Reginal Goreux and Aloys Nong didn’t make the trip, while all other players are fit to feature.

Verdict

Hannover are still considered one of top German sides and they are very motivated to make amends for the heavy defeat to Stuttgart. Standard, on the other hand, have stayed without four key players this summer and they don’t seem to have what it takes to match a side like Hannover.

Our prediction: Hannover with -1 Asian handicap

Odds: 2.08 (27/25)

Bookmaker: Bet365