Europa League Preview: Linfield vs. IF Fuglafjordur

Linfield look strong favourites to progress to the next round of the Europa League qualifying stages as they enter the second leg of their clash against IF Fuglafjørður with a two goal advantage.

Goals from Philip Lowry and new signing Andrew Waterworth gave Linfield a 2-0 victory in the Faroe Islands and two priceless away goals.

The result marked Linfield’s first win in European competition since 2005 when the Windsor Park side beat Latvian outfit Ventspils, and their first away victory since the famous 1966/67 campaign – the year they reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup.

Linfield can take many positives from the first leg performance, particularly the key impact of their new summer signings. Andrew Waterworth, Jonathan Tuffey, Matthew Clarke and James Knowles all made their competitive debut for the Blues, with Waterworth opening his goal-scoring account while goalkeeper Jonathan Tuffey kept a clean sheet.

Unfortunately for the Blues, Linfield will go into the second leg against IF Fuglafjørður at Windsor Park without new star striker Waterworth. The ex-Glentoran player was withdrawn from the first leg shortly after his goal on 68 minutes and was later found to have a broken bone in his leg. The injury will surely see Linfield’s new front-man miss the beginning of the Danske Bank Premiership season as he is expected to be out for around 6-8 weeks. As a result, Linfield will look to Mark McAllister and Peter Thompson as potential replacements going into Wednesday night’s second leg.

It is expected that David Jeffery will name a relatively unchanged side as they take on IF Fuglafjørður in the return game at Windsor Park. The two sides will meet on Wednesday 10^th July (19:45 KO) with the victors set to face Skoda Xanthi of Greece in the next round of the Europa League qualifying stages.