AZ Alkmaar
- AZ were seeded 14th in the UEFA Conference League league phase and sit fifth in the Eredivisie on 39 points from 24 games played.
- Interim coach Leeroy Echteld has steadied the ship in recent weeks after a series of poor results and he will be aiming to build on recent form with his squad on Thursday.
- After a 1-0 first-leg defeat in Armenia, AZ need to come out and press the visitors and should be capable of doing so against Noah’s solid but simple structure.
- Sven Mijnansreturned from injury to provide a creative spark and some good assists in the 3-1 win over Sparta Rotterdam at the weekend, while Troy Parrott has been scoring consistently in domestic fixtures to show his potential to be the focal point of AZ’s comeback ambitions.
FC Noah
- Noah are a compact and well-organised side under Croatian coach Sandro Perković, who has given Armenian football its first-ever European knockout win.
- The visitors set up with a defence-first approach, playing a deep block and staying compact while trying to exploit set-piece and counter-attacking chances.
- Hovhannes Hambardzumyan, who scored Noah’s first-leg winner, is a key attacking player from right-back while Matheus Aias adds a different dimension to the forward line.
Head-to-Head
- AZ Alkmaar host Armenian underdogs FC Noah Artsakh in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League 2025-2026 play-off on Thursday with the Dutch Eredivisie side a goal down after last week’s first leg in Yerevan.
- Alkmaar are favorites to come through, but this tie is anything but a foregone conclusion with Noah holding a 1-0 aggregate advantage and their ability to counter-attack.
Key Players
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AZ
- Sven Mijnans returned from injury to provide a creative spark and some good assists in the 3-1 win over Sparta Rotterdam at the weekend.
- Troy Parrott has been scoring consistently in domestic fixtures to show his potential to be the focal point of AZ’s comeback ambitions.
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Noah
- Hovhannes Hambardzumyan scored Noah’s first-leg winner and is a key attacking threat from right-back.
- Matheus Aias adds a different dimension to the forward line.
Betting Insights
- AZ are around 1.32 to win on Thursday while Noah are 9.3 and the draw 5.3.
- Over 2.5 goals: 1.57 matches the expectation of an open affair with AZ chasing a deficit.
Prediction
- AZ are certainly the more likely winners over 90 minutes, but Noah are not going to fold in this game and have an aggregate lead to protect.
- We’ll take the Dutch side to eventually come through, but this should be a tight contest with Noah looking for an away goal.
- We’re not expecting to see Noah score twice in Alkmaar, but we do think they will frustrate the home team until the end and we’re going with a 3-1 win for AZ as the correct score prediction.
