Top Six Contenders Clash

After a busy midweek schedule, the Championship returns on Saturday with a huge clash in the playoff chase. Both Swansea and Fulham sat in the top five after their midweek results, but the pair go head to head this week in search of vital points towards their push for the Premier League.

However, Fulham were pre-season contenders for the top flight, while Swansea are a surprise package in the promotion race. There’s certainly a gulf in ability and squad depth despite their similar positions. Will those two vital factors tell following a busy week for both sides?

Dip for the Swans

While the home side remain in the chase for the top six, but there are signs that they are running out of steam. the Swans have had massive problems in front of their own fans, having lost three of their last four at home ahead of this meeting with Fulham. Their playoff push is now relying on their strong away record, but will their form at the Liberty haunt them here?

The hosts have major issues up front, with the goals drying up for them at home. While Swansea have scored 11 goals in nine home matches, they’ve hit only three across their last six. The Welsh side create plenty of chances here, but they are too wasteful. They’ve converted just 8% of their attempts at home, while Fulham on the road have conceded just 7% of the shots they’ve faced.

When you combine that defensive record with the league’s top scorer – 13-goal Aleksandar Mitrovic – is points to danger for the Welsh side this week.

Fulham Can Punish Swans’ Form

That poor run from the Swans should cost them in this clash. The Cottagers have found their feet in recent weeks, with three straight wins behind them in the league. They’ve managed to climb into the mix for the playoffs as a result, but that’s all we really expected from a side as talented as Fulham’s. The visitors come here with a strong side and that makes them worthy favourites.

Meanwhile, the way Swansea have fared of late suggests they’ll have a tough time here. They have won just twice in eight, while they are now winless in three following their midweek draw with Huddersfield. However, it’s the hosts’ record at the Liberty which worries us the most, while that makes Fulham look like the side to back here.

Fulham’s away games this season have been quite tight, just 25% saw over 2.5 goals scored. I can see this one being quite low scoring, while Swansea’s form suggests it will be close. The Welsh side have lost by a single goal in 75% of their defeats in the league this season, while Fulham are fresh from a 1-0 victory at Birmingham. Following the Swans’ low scoring home form, i expect this one to go the same way, so a 1-0 away win is our correct score pick here.

Wolfsberger vs Borussia Monchengladbach Betting Tips

Things are wide open in Group J with just three points separating top from bottom as both Roma and Monchengladbach perform below expectations. A win here for either side would give them a big advantage going into the final matchweek and a loss would likely match qualification very unlikely for either team. 

Wolfsberger are the team at the bottom and two losses from their last two games has really set them back after a promising start. Their opening two results saw them pick up a commanding 4-0 win in the reverse of this fixture before holding Roma to a 1-1 draw but two losses to Baseksehir have really hurt the team’s chance of qualifying. 

Borussia Monchengladbach have been the opposite, putting that 4-0 loss behind them quickly to pick up draws in Rome and Istanbul before beating their Italian opponents at home in matchweek four. They’ve looked a lot more confident and should be considered favourites coming into this match although, with only four goals scored, they need to be more ruthless in front of goal. 

I'm backing Monchengladbach to end Wolfsberger’s chances of qualification here and at a price of 4/5 should be looking at almost doubling our money. The Austrians have looked bereft of confidence in their last two games and with Monchengladbach growing stature, an away win looks to be a good bet in this one. 

It won’t all be one way traffic though and Wolfsberger have enough about them to get on the scoresheet and cause the visitors some problems. Ultimately it should be Monchengladbach who come away with all three points however and we’re predicting a 2-1 win for the Germans as they look to qualify for the round of 32.

Tips

Both sides come into this game with hopes of qualifying from the tightest group in this years competition. Malmo currently sit on five points, unbeaten in three since their 1-0 loss in the reverse of this fixture on matchweek one. Dynamo have yet to be beaten in the competition but have only won once, in that fixture in September. 

Since that opening day, where Copenhagen beat Lugano in the other fixture, there has only been one victory in the entire group with Malmo beating Lugano in matchweek three. That has led to three teams all being very closely grouped and qualification could still, realistically, go any way at the moment. The winner of this fixture would hold a m*****e advantage going into the final round of games whilst the l***r would almost definitely be a*****d of playing their last game in the competition in December. 

Goals have been hard to come by in Group B with just 11 goals coming from the 4 sides and things don’t look like changing much with just two goals being scored in the last round of fixtures, leading to the 2.5 goal line being beaten just once in the group so far. There has certainly been a lack of goals so far, something we’re predicting will continue into matchweek five. 

Had predicting that the 2.5 goal line will be safe once more with both teams struggling to find the net, averaging just 2 goals a game between them so far. Neither team is scoring or conceding lots and we’re not seeing much evidence to suggest this will change. We’ve predicted under 2.5 goals with a 2* confidence rating and would be very surprised if this match had lots of goals. 

With two sides having so much to play for there should be a certain amount of risk taking on both sides which could see both teams having opportunities to score. With that in mind, I have predicted that this game will finish in a stalemate at 1-1. Both sides could really do with the win but we think they are going to cancel each other out a little leading to a result that neither really wants.

Sevillad their route to the final 32 in their last game, a 5-2 win over Dudelange, and come into this game with no pressure to find a result; they can’t even give up top spot after a terrific opening four games to their campaign. They’ve also scored an average of three goals a game in that time and have looked front runners to lift the trophy.

Qarabag have endured a mixed campaign by comparison, with losses to Sevilla in the reverse fixture to this one and APOEL in matchweek four, but a win over Dudelange means they are still very much in contention to qualify for the round of 32. They’ve both scored and conceded plenty but this isn’t a fixture they will relish, with a visit to Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan not looking like it will end well for the Azerbaijani side. 

The two sides have averaged 4.75 goals between them so far this campaign and goals should be expected here again, especially with Sevilla creating an average of 8.5 shots on target per game. Qarabag can’t really match them for those statistics and come into the game as definite underdogs. 

I think Sevlla should be fairly comfortable without any pressure in this game and we’re predicting they’ll be on the right end of the scoreline at both half-time and full-time, getting an early lead and keeping hold of it for the entirety of the match. So far, they’ve scored five of their 12 goals in the first half and the remaining eight in the second, scoring well throughout the 90 minutes. 

Sevilla should run out the victors here and we think a 3-0 scoreline is a fair one in showing the Spaniards’ dominance over their opponents, who may well be overawed by the match.

A big atmosphere is expected in Sevilla and the crowd will play their part in roaring their side to a fairly easy victory in matchweek five.

Standard Liège will surely find it tough to score against a Vitória Guimarães team who should win well here. I'm can see a convincing 3-0 winning scoreline for Vitória Guimarães when the full-time whistle blows. All Vitória Guimarães v Standard Liège match predictions, both team to score @ 2.2, over 2.5@ 1.44 . Guimaras Victoria or draw for today match.

What are the best odds for the game?

Checking the betting prices for this game in the 90 min. result market, putting your money on Vitória Guimarães is best priced at 22.35, a bet on the game finishing all-square is 3.6 & staking on a victory for Standard Liège gets you 3.45. Those are the most competitive returns being offered at the moment.

What was the score last time these teams played each other in this league?

The last league fixture between the two was Europa League match day 1 on 19/09/2019 which ended up with the score at Standard Liège 2-0 Vitória Guimarães. That time, Standard Liège had 48% possession and 5 attempts at goal with 2 shots on target. Their only player on the scoresheet was Paul M'Poku (91'). For their opponents, Vitória Guimarães got 17 attempts at goal with 5 on target. Florent Hanin (66' Own goal) was the scorer. The referee was Sergei Ivanov.