Burnley take their first steps into Europe on Thursday when they take on Aberdeen in the Europa League qualifying round. This is a great chance for them to make a name for themselves on the European stage, and improve the stature of the club after what was a very good Premier League campaign last season. They don’t have far to travel for their first European adventure of the season, with the short trip up to Scotland giving them a familiar feel to things.

Aberdeen would have much rather faced someone else at this stage, this is about as tough as they could have got it here, and they will know two tough games await. The Scottish teams in Europe have been laregely disappointing over the past few years with the exception of Celtic, and that is a sign that the quality of football up in the north is slowly decreasing.

Both teams are still in their pre-season faze right now, so fitness levels will not be quite what they should be for this game which is a very important one. That is something that will favour Burnely, they should have a naturally fitter team than Aberdeen, and that could be an important factor as the game heads into the final 20 minutes. The Burnley players are likely to be really up for this too, they will have had this date circled in the diary since qualifying for the competition last season, and although this is just the qualifying round, they cannot go any further if they don’t win this tie.

Burnley vs Aberdeen Betting Tips

This is going to be a big night for Burnley and not only are they going to play in the Europa League, but they are going to go up to Scotland and win this game, effectively wrapping up the tie and the first attempt. While a draw wouldn’t be the end of the world for them because the second leg is on their home soil, I don’t think Burnley will need that. They are more than capable of going up to Scotland and beating Aberdeen to take full control of this.

Scottish football has been slowly declining over recent years and while Burnley are not one of the big guns in the Premier League, they are still at least one level above what Aberdeen have to offer. Neither club will be at full fitness here, but that is something else that should swing the game in the favour of Burnley, who will have been able to better prepare for this game compared to their counterparts.

Burnley have the quality to win this one and although there will be a little more edge to the game with it being England vs Scotland, they still have enough to get through. Aberdeen are sure to try and frustrate them and make things as difficult as possible, but I see a win for Burnley here, which almost certainly books them their place in the next qualifying round as they should dominate the home leg next week.

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