Slovan Bratislava vs Basel prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-10-12 16:45.
Slovan Bratislava are enjoying a relatively strong vein of form and sit top of the Slovak Fortuna Liga having lost just twice all season (W8, D2). Their participation in all three UEFA club competition qualifiers means they’ve already played a gruelling 11 European games this campaign, but they’ll have to continue to keep working hard as they’ll likely need to win this game if they want to maintain any hope of qualifying through this UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) group, after collecting four points so far following their surprise 2-0 win at Basel last matchday.
Echoes of last season’s failed attempt at the UECL group stage remain in Slovan minds, as whilst they ended up registering enough points to qualify from three of the eight overall groups, they still ended up being the highest-performing third-placed side. They can aim for better this time around though, especially if Slovan can improve on their solid home record vs Swiss opponents (W3, D1, L1) by leapfrogging group leaders Basel with victory.
Basel’s perfect start to this UECL group was abruptly halted when losing to Slovan just last week, and a 1-0 domestic loss to Lugano over the weekend left them floundering in the bottom-half of the Swiss Super League, and now without a goal in over three hours of competitive play. Prior to their current lull in form, Basel had won five consecutive matches while scoring on average three goals per game, so the potential for resurgence remains high.
A trip to Žalgiris in round two saw Basel pick up only their second victory across their last nine continental away trips (D3, L4), although it is widely expected that Slovan will give Alex Frei’s men a much sterner test than that of the Lithuanians. Even so, Basel have never lost an away UECL group stage game (W2, D2) and will certainly travel with hope.
Players to watch: Slovan’s David Hrncar leads the way for the club in their domestic league, and all of his six goals since joining the club came in wins with multi-goal margins. As for Basel, Wouter Burger loves to get stuck in, and he’s picked up an astonishing eight yellow cards across his last 14 appearances, scoring four goals along the way!
Hot stat: Basel have committed a competition-high 47 fouls, contributing to their average of three yellow cards per match.