Already the first match day in the master group of the Austrian Bundesliga brought a preliminary decision in the fight for the championship. Red Bull Salzburg underpinned the role of favorites to successfully defend the title, while LASK suffered a surprising defeat at home. The Carinthian Bundesliga team Wolfsberg has been the first chaser since Wednesday evening. On the second day of the championship group, the pursuit duel between Wolfsberg and LASK is on the program in Lavanttal.
The Feldhofer team celebrated a deserved 2-1 win at Sturm Graz and was therefore able to take a big step towards renewed Europa League qualification. The lead over Hartberg (five points) and Sturm Graz (six points) is already quite comfortable. With the LASK, however, the team that has won every away game of the current Bundesliga season is now visiting Lavanttal. The game will kick off at 16:00 p.m. Further game previews of Austrian football this weekend can be found in our tip category Football Austria.
Wolfsberger AC:
The third place in the table last season was the best result of a Carinthian team in Austrian football. Hardly anyone would have expected the Wolfsbergers to repeat this after this outstanding season and a few serious departures. No matter how the 2019/20 season will end, the WAC has definitely instructed the critics for the better.
Ferdinand Feldhofer’s team has been the first bull hunter since last Wednesday. While LASK surprisingly put the start in the sand against Hartberg, Feldhofer was able to celebrate a 2-1 away win against SK Sturm Graz at his old place of work in the “pack derby”.
Everyone was talking about Shon Weissman’s opening goal. The Israeli, who was classified as too weak by Rapid Vienna in summer 2019, is playing an outstanding season. With an extremely remarkable fall retractor from the 16, he caused collective astonishment. His 23rd goal of the season deserves the title “Goal of the Year”. A stay beyond the season is almost impossible, Weissman is in focus at several top European clubs.
In autumn 2019, the WAC played internationally for the first time and gained experience in the group phase of the UEFA Europa League. Following the victory on Wednesday, Feldhofer underlined the ambitions of the club that the players are hungry to experience this again this autumn.
At the same time, he also warned that the current results should not be taken for granted. Humility should come first. However, there is no feeling that the WAC could take off.
The Feldhofer team could take a big step on Sunday on the way to Europe. Despite the strong performance, second place in the table and the home advantage, a look at the betting base odds comparison shows that higher betting odds are offered for the home win than for the success of the LASK.
LASK:
The LASK has dominated the headlines of the Austrian sports media in recent days. In view of the President’s recent statements, this will take longer, because the club wants to go through all the instances to contest the six-point deduction. In the meantime, however, their own fans have already opposed the management of the club. Statements such as that that the LASK has done enough for Austria this year and should be rewarded cause horror and a shake of the head in many places.
The LASK kicked the fair play with both feet and wanted to gain an advantage in an unauthorized way. In view of this, many fans were happy to watch the LASK vs. Hartberg match summary on Wednesday evening. As befits the profession, the LASK took the lead early on and worked on countless goalscoring goals.
The black-and-white, however, lacked any cold-mouthedness in front of the opposing housing and screwed up a number of top-class players. The bad luck came with several aluminum hits. Hartberg was undoubtedly the weaker team, but put up a lot of struggle against it and presented itself icy cold in front of the opposing case. In stoppage time, the surprising winning goal was actually achieved. The LASK appearance could well be summarized as “the karma has struck”.
This also continued a trend that was seen before the Corona mandatory break. The LASK only leaves points in the home stadium. Abroad, Linzers pulverize all records. The Ismael eleven mastered the basic round with a maximum of 33 points from eleven games. The bright white vest is surely one of the reasons why bookmakers consider the guests as favorites on Sunday afternoon in the duel between Wolfsberg and LASK.
The statistics definitely speak for the tip, but the appearance at home against Hartberg on Wednesday leaves doubts. However, the staggering away record cannot be dismissed out of hand. In the eleven games so far, the LASK has conceded only five goals. In contrast to the Hartberg match, captain Gernot Trauner will return after a yellow card suspension and will certainly give the defensive even more stability.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,58
