Servette vs Lausanne Sport
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Today’s free tip is in the Swiss Super League encounter between Servette and Lausanne Sport.
Another edition of the Derby du Lac, huh? I know things got a bit volatile when the two teams met in Lausanne earlier this season, especially after Kyei’s fishing celebration attracted the wrong kind of attention. If I recall correctly, that match was stopped at least three times. However, I still can’t take this game seriously as a derby, which is perhaps my own ignorance. I do love and follow Swiss football avidly but perhaps there’s some regional rivalry that makes this derby matter that I don’t know about because I just feel like the derby was invented to make Lausanne Sport feel included as they don’t have a real derby, per se. Only the emergence of Stade Lausanne-Ouchy (in the division below) has threatened such. Servette, on the other hand, have their big derby with FC Sion.
Anyway, that’s enough of that. I think Servette are going to do Lausanne Sport some big damage here. There’s an element of risk to that in the sense that the visitors have a new manager (Casanova) to impress, and that the league table makes them look worse than they are. I genuinely feel that Lausanne Sport have worked really hard to resolve their problems throughout the season, and now have a good, solid defence. Furthermore, they’ve found a solution to their striker situation in Pollero, and signed a great inside forward in Spielmann to replace the departed Puertas. I really do think that they’ve got a lot of positives in their squad, especially with Kapo finally back in training after a long time out. They’ve just loaned Trebel too.
Sure, they lost 5-1 at the weekend – that’s what cost Borenovic his job. I saw the game though, and it was a case of them learning lessons. I’ll criticise Borenovic for his starting eleven; I thought it was too bold against a really vibrant, dangerous St. Gallen team. However, he boldly made changes after half an hour to turn things around – and it was working, at least until the unbelievably harsh red card for N’Guessan. After that it was Christians to the lions but on another day, Lausanne Sport get something from the game. Perhaps the Lausanne Sport perspective is that Borenovic has had enough lessons by now but I thought it was a bit poor, really – he was sorting out the team’s problems rather well
So now it’s Casanova, who has no experience of Swiss football but sure has been involved in French football for a long time. I think he’s inherited a good squad; a bit lacking in front of goal, but a good group nonetheless. They work hard, counter well, and give a shit so there’s not much to repair really – again, Borenovic did well there. However, I think the fixture list has been unkind to them because Servette away is not a fixture they can realistically hope to get something from at this moment in time, derby or not.
Servette are simply playing too well. I’m still not sure how they lost in Zurich last weekend against the league leaders because Servette were excellent. They did give some good chances away when pushing out after falling behind but they were so bloody close to scoring on a number of occasions. The Cognat shot that hit the post – if that game was played in the middle of a run of fixtures rather than in the first game back, that shot goes in. I thought Servette were unlucky, although their lack of a striker was apparent.
Why no striker, you ask? Well, something has gone on with Kyei behind the scenes so he’s been omitted for a while now. In the past week, it’s been announced that he’s moved to Clermont Foot 38 in Ligue 1 so the mystery is done with. Schalk just isn’t that good, and new striker Bedia was not able to feature last weekend. This weekend, however, Bedia can debutise, and probably will because as much as I like Rodelin, he’s not a striker.
The Servette midfield is the gold mine though. I appreciate that they play further forward than your average midfielders, but Stevanovic and Imeri are deadly. The former is more of an out-and-out creator; not much of a finisher. Imeri is more direct, and has one hell of a shot on him, both from set pieces and open play. Those two tend to flank whoever is up front, and then you’ve got the engines behind – Cespedes (doubtful today; Douline may start), Cognat, and Valls – and that combination works brilliantly.
On top of that, rapid attacking full-back Bauer is ready to debutise; he’ll contribute an awful lot to attacks in due course, perhaps even tonight. With him and Clichy as full-backs, this team will have a lot of support in attacking situations, and now they’ve found a healthy Vouilloz-Sasso partnership in front of Frick to rely upon, their defence looks good too. Servette’s only weakness is a lack of depth, as was evident during their poor run earlier this season. With their current group though, they’re deadly, and unbelievably slick on the ball. I can see them doing Lausanne Sport a lot of damage here.
Verdict: Servette to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at evens.
Saturday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
FIFA World Club Cup:
Al Ahly vs Monterrey
Australian A-League:
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Western United
Australian FFA Cup:
Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast Mariners
Austrian Cup:
Rapid Vienna vs Hartberg
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Kortrijk vs Sint-Truiden
Standard de Liege vs Cercle Brugge
KV Oostende vs OH Leuven
Antwerp vs Union Saint-Gilloise
Croatian Prva Liga:
Gorica vs Hajduk Split
Rijeka vs Lokomotiva Zagreb
Czechia Liga 1:
Baumit Jablonec vs Sigma Olomouc
Teplice vs Bohemians 1905
Slavia Prague vs Karvina
Ceske Budejovice vs Sparta Prague
English Premier League:
Burnley vs Watford
English FA Cup:
Chelsea vs Plymouth Argyle
Kidderminster Harriers vs West Ham United
Crystal Palace vs Hartlepool United
Southampton vs Coventry City
Everton vs Brentford
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Norwich City
Manchester City vs Fulham
Tottenham Hotspur vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Finnish Liiga Cup:
HJK vs IFK Mariehamn
VPS vs AC Oulu
Finnish Ykkoscup:
KTP vs PEPO
KPV vs SJK Akatemia
Ekenas IF vs PIF
Jaro Pietarsaari vs MP
PK-35 Helsinki vs TPS
French Ligue 1:
AS Saint-Etienne vs Montpellier HSC
AS Monaco vs Olympique Lyonnais
German Bundesliga:
VfB Stuttgart vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Mainz 05 vs TSG Hoffenheim
Augsburg vs Union Berlin
Arminia Bielefeld vs Borussia Moenchengladbach
Koln vs SC Freiburg
Bayern Munich vs RB Leipzig
German Bundesliga 2:
Werder Bremen vs Karlsruher SC
Schalke 04 vs Jahn Regensburg
SV Sandhausen vs Erzgebirge Aue
St. Pauli vs Paderborn 07
Hungarian Liga 1:
Varda SE vs Budapest Honved
Gyirmot vs Ujpest
Fehervar vs Debreceni VSC
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Bnei Sakhnin vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Maccabi Petah Tikva vs Hapoel Jerusalem
Hapoel Be’er Sheva vs Maccabi Netanya
Italian Serie A:
AS Roma vs Genoa
Internazionale vs AC Milan
ACF Fiorentina vs SS Lazio
Italian Serie B:
Crotone vs Cittadella
Como vs Lecce
Benevento vs Parma
Alessandria vs Pisa
Ternana vs Reggina
Cosenza vs Brescia
Frosinone vs Vicenza
Ascoli vs Perugia
Dutch Eredivisie:
FC Utrecht vs Cambuur Leeuwarden
Fortuna Sittard vs SC Heerenveen
PEC Zwolle vs NEC Nijmegen
PSV Eindhoven vs AZ Alkmaar
FC Twente Enschede vs Vitesse Arnhem
Portuguese Liga 1:
Maritimo Funchal vs Estoril
Pacos de Ferreira vs Portimonense
Vitoria Guimaraes vs Sporting Braga
Portuguese Liga 2:
Academico Viseu vs Chaves
Romanian Liga 1:
UTA Arad vs Sepsi
FCV Farul Constanta vs Chindia Targoviste
Universitatea Craiova vs CFR Cluj
Spanish Primera Liga:
Elche vs Deportivo Alaves
Real Mallorca vs Cadiz
Celta de Vigo vs Rayo Vallecano de Madrid
CA Osasuna vs Sevilla CF
Swiss Super League:
Servette vs Lausanne Sport
Grasshopper Zurich vs FC Zurich
Swiss Challenge League:
SC Kriens vs Yverdon Sport
Stade Lausanne-Ouchy vs Aarau
FC Thun vs FC Wil
Turkish Super Lig:
Gaziantep FK vs Sivasspor
Trabzonspor vs Kasimpasa
Fatih Karagumruk vs Yeni Malatyaspor
Fenerbahce vs Istanbul Basaksehir
Enjoy your free betting tips!