📏 Form Guide

Slaven Belupo

LDLLLL 📉

Slaven Belupo will be looking to improve on their last outing here following the 0-1 Prva Liga loss in their previous game against Rijeka.

In that game, Slaven Belupo managed 44% possession and 9 attempts on goal with 2 on target. Rijeka got 16 shots at goal with 5 of them on target. Niko Galešić (50') scored for Rijeka.

Matches involving Slaven Belupo have usually been exciting affairs lately with a lot of goalmouth action being a real hallmark. Over their past half dozen games, the sum total of 20 goals have been recorded for both sides combined (at an average of 3.33 goals per game) with 5 of these accredited to Slaven Belupo.

Coming into this contest, Slaven Belupo haven’t won at home in the past 3 league matches.

NK Osijek

LWDDLL

After a loss in their previous game against Varaždin in Prva Liga action, NK Osijek and their travelling fans will hope for a better result here.

In that game, NK Osijek managed 67% possession and 11 shots at goal with 3 of them on target. At the other end, Varaždin got 6 attempts at goal with 2 of them on target. Leon Belcar (12') scored for Varaždin.

Looking at their form, and NK Osijek have been scored against in 5 of their last 6 matches, conceding 7 goals in all. Defensively, NK Osijek seem to have a bit of a soft underbelly. That trend won’t necessarily be carried forward here, however.

Their prior results show that NK Osijek:

• have not beaten Slaven Belupo in away games against them for the last 2 league matches.
• haven’t won away from home in the past 6 matches in the league.

👥 Head to head

Looking at their prior head to head meetings stretching back to 09/10/2022 tells us that Slaven Belupo have won 2 of them and NK Osijek 3, with the tally of drawn games being 1.

A combined sum of 20 goals were shared by the two clubs throughout the course of those matches, with 5 of them from Farmaceuti and 15 created by Bijelo-plavi. The average number of goals per game works out to 3.33.

The previous league contest between these clubs was Prva Liga match day 19 on 17/12/2023 when the final score was NK Osijek 4-1 Slaven Belupo.

That day, NK Osijek managed 52% possession and 17 attempts on goal with 6 on target. Goals were scored by Kristijan Lovrić (17', 32'), Nail Omerović (49') and Ramón Mierez (88').

Slaven Belupo had 9 attempts on goal with 2 of them on target. Matej Šakota (66') scored.

The match was refereed by Ante Čulina.

ℹ️ Team News: Slaven Belupo

The Slaven Belupo manager Roy Ferenčina has no fitness worries to speak of ahead of this clash owing to a fully healthy group available to select from.

ℹ️ Team News: NK Osijek

NK Osijek boss Zoran Zekić has to choose from a squad that has some fitness concerns. Luka Bransteter (Cruciate ligament tear), Oleksandr Drambayev (unknown injury), Marko Baresic (Broken collarbone) and Kristian Fucak (Cruciate ligament injury) are those who can’t be considered.

💡 Prediction

When taking everything into account, Slaven Belupo might need a bit of good fortune to hit the back of the net against this NK Osijek lineup who we think will manage to get a goal of their own in a winning performance.

With that in mind, we reckon that it will be a good battle with a 0-1 winning margin for NK Osijek when the referee blows for full-time.

We’re expecting it to be that close.

Our expert partners are tipping under 3.5 goals for this match. Check out their VIP predictions here.

Lucas Pereira, 16:06 29/03/2024