📊 Form Guide

Botev

LDLLLD ⚠

Botev go into this game coming off the back of a 1-1 First League drawn result against Arda Kardzhali.

The only player to score from Botev was Ivelin Popov (3'). Chinonso Offor (84') was the scorer for Arda Kardzhali.

It has been all too rare in recent times that Botev have shown defensive steel. In fact, Botev have failed to prevent opponents from scoring in 6 of their previous 6 matches, letting in 12 goals in the process.

Heading into this contest, Botev are without a win at home for the past 4 league matches. Fans are getting restless.

CSKA 1948

DLDWLW ⚖

CSKA 1948 go into this meeting following a 2-1 First League win with the downing of Lokomotiv Plovdiv in their previous game.

The only scorer from CSKA 1948 was Peter Vitanov (40', 92'). Diogo Abreu (61') scored for Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

Looking at their form, and CSKA 1948 have been scored against in 5 of their last 6 games, conceding 9 goals overall. At the back, CSKA 1948 have seen their frailties exposed. Putting that to one side, we’ll just have to find out if the trend will continue on in this next match.

Their previous form shows that CSKA 1948:

• haven't been defeated by Botev when they've played them away from home in the last 2 league matches.
• are without an away win for the past 8 league games. A poor run.

🤜🤛 Head to head

Looking at their past head-to-head meetings going back to 10/04/2023 tells us that Botev have won 1 of them and CSKA 1948 3, with the number of draws being 2.

An aggregate of 8 goals were produced between them in this period, with 3 of them for The Canaries and 5 coming from CSKA. That is an average goals per game value of 1.33.

The previous league fixture between these sides was First League match day 10 on 29/09/2024 when the final score was CSKA 1948 0-1 Botev.

The match was refereed by Vihren Minev.

🗞️ Team News: Botev

Anthony Ujah (Patellar tendon rupture), Georgi Nikolov (Shoulder injury) and Antonio Perera (Torn ligaments) are not available for Botev boss Dušan Kerkez.

In all likelihood, The Canaries may well use a 4-2-3-1 system and select H. Christian Bernat, Nikolay Minkov, Jamal Amofa, Atanas Chernev, K. Balogiannis, Yanis Karabelyov, Alen Korosec, Ehije Ukaki, Ivelin Popov, Samuel Akere and Aleksa Maras.

📰 Team News: CSKA 1948

Thanks to a mainly full-strength squad, there’s only a single fitness worry for the CSKA 1948 gaffer Borislav Kyosev to be concerned with. Simeon Vasilev (Torn ankle ligaments) misses out for this game.

We reckon that CSKA seem likely to elect for a 4-2-3-1 system, giving starts to Petar Marinov, Steve Furtado, Teodor Ivanov, Emil Tsenov, Johnathan, Reyan Daskalov, Petar Vitanov, Paolo Sciortino, Thalis, Radoslav Kirilov and Jeka.

🔮 Prediction

Our feeling is that CSKA 1948 will manage to breach the defence of this Botev outfit, although that might not quite be as many as the goals that they could concede.

We’re going for a close game with a 2-1 win for Botev when the full-time whistle blows. We’ll have to see what happens.

Andre Moura, 12:02 16/03/2025