Austria Vienna vs Lech Poznan prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-10-26 16:45.
It’s now or never for Austria Vienna, who are rooted to the bottom of the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) Group C after a run of three consecutive defeats. Anything but a victory will see them eliminated from the competition, so that could at least provide some clarity for Manfred Schmid’s struggling players. A goalless draw against Hapoel Be’er Sheva on matchday one appeared a decent start, but the Violets have lost six of their last ten games in all competitions since then (W3, D1).
Austria Vienna’s 4-1 loss to Lech Poznań in the reverse fixture marked their only goal in the competition so far. That’s been an issue in European competition at home for some time too, as they’ve scored just seven home goals across their last 13 games in Vienna, none of which they managed to win (D5, L8)! They can at least draw on some great historical home form against Polish sides in major European competition, winning all five games in Vienna including one game against Lech back in 2008.
Automatic qualification for the last 16 may be off the table for Lech, but their chances of reaching the knockout stages for the first time since 2012 could be secured with victory here and Hapoel Be’er Sheva failing to win. The Railwaymen have fought back from a thrilling 4-3 defeat to Villarreal in their opening fixture by going unbeaten in their next three, conceding just two goals along the way.
The Polish champions have suffered a mediocre start to the domestic season and languish ten points adrift of the leaders. A goalless draw with Cracovia over the weekend followed an early Polish Cup exit, so European action is proving a respite. Lech haven’t been great continental travellers though in recent years, failing to win any of their last nine European trips (D3, L6), the continuation of which would see their potential progress rest on their final group game.
Players to watch: Austria Vienna forward Dominik Fitz has directly contributed to five goals in his last five appearances (G3, A2), ending up on the winning side just once (D1, L3), while Lech Poznań’s Mikael Ishak has had a direct hand in five goals in four UECL games (G3, A2).
Hot stat: Austria Vienna’s last four games have been level at half-time, but they’ve gone on to lose three of them (D1).