📏 Form Guide

Lokomotiv Sofia

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Lokomotiv Sofia head into this match following a 1-1 First League drawn game vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

The only name on the scoresheet from Lokomotiv Sofia was Ryan Bidounga (53'). Parvizdzhon Umarbayev (42') scored for Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

It has been a rare occasion in recent times that Lokomotiv Sofia have shown defensive steel. The facts show that Lokomotiv Sofia have failed to prevent opponents from scoring in 5 of their previous 6 games, giving up 10 goals in the process.

Coming into this contest, Lokomotiv Sofia have not been beaten in their last 4 league matches at home.

Botev Vratsa

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Botev Vratsa come into this encounter following on from a 3-2 First League win with the downing of Septemvri Sofia in their last outing.

For Botev Vratsa, the goalscorers were Martin Smolenski (9') and Brayan Perea (45', 48'). Martin Hristov (53') and Bertrand Fourrier (86') scored for Septemvri Sofia.

The stats don’t lie, and Botev Vratsa have been scored against in 5 of their last 6 matches, conceding 9 goals in total. Defensively, Botev Vratsa could really do with shoring things up. That trend isn’t assured to be carried forward here, however.

Ahead of this clash, Botev Vratsa have not lost to Lokomotiv Sofia when having played them away from home in the previous 2 matches in the league.

🤜🤛 Head to head

A look at their prior head to head meetings going back to 02/05/2023 shows that Lokomotiv Sofia have won 3 of these games & Botev Vratsa 2, with the tally of draws being 1.

A total of 12 goals were scored between them in this period, with 8 of them from The Railwaymen and 4 belonging to Vratsa. That’s an average goals per game figure of 2.

The previous league meeting between these clubs was First League match day 21 on 14/02/2025 and the score finished Botev Vratsa 0-3 Lokomotiv Sofia.

The referee was Georgi Kabakov.

📋 Team News: Lokomotiv Sofia

There aren’t many selection issues, with just one fitness concern for the Lokomotiv Sofia boss Ratko Dostanić to contend with thanks to an otherwise robust squad. Donaldo Acka (Torn knee ligaments) is out of contention.

It’s our opinion that The Railwaymen will probably employ a 4-2-3-1 system this time, beginning the first half with Aleksandar Lyubenov, Celso, Ryan Bidounga, Bojidar Katsarov, Miki Orachev, Krasimir Stanoev, Octavio, P. Galchev, Diogo Teixeira, Spas Delev and Svetoslav Dikov.

📋 Team News: Botev Vratsa

Out of a mainly available group of players, there is just the one fitness worry for the Botev Vratsa boss Hristo Yanev to be concerned about. Miroslav Marinov (Muscle fiber tear) misses out for this game.

We reckon that Botev Vratsa could decide to begin the game with a 4-2-3-1 formation, giving starts to Dimitar Evtimov, Hamza Ait Allal, Arian Kabashi, Siriky Diabate, Martin Dichev, Quentin Bena, David Suarez, Spas Georgiev, Martin Smolenski, Daniel Genov and Brayan Perea.

🧠 Prediction

Our thinking is that Botev Vratsa should be able to find the back of the net against this Lokomotiv Sofia side, but it probably won’t quite be enough to avoid a loss.

We’re predicting both teams to score in a 2-1 winning score for Lokomotiv Sofia when the full-time whistle blows. It’s a very tough call.

Andre Moura, 16:10 07/05/2025