St. Polten vs Austria Vienna
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Today’s free tip is in the Austrian Bundesliga encounter between St. Polten and Austria Vienna.
You may have noticed that the odds for this selection have continued to drop. No, it’s not as if St. Polten have discovered some secret weapon to get out of this malaise they’re in. Truth be told, they’re still going to be in deep shit, even after this match has taken place. No, the reason the odds are dropping is because of Austria Vienna, and what has transpired over the past week or so.
The capital club are obviously the better team here, but their players have now been told that their efforts in this game – and their forthcoming games – may be rendered ultimately pointless as the Austrian FA threatens to demote Austria Vienna. That’s seriously big news because Austria Vienna, for all of their failings, remain a colossal footballing institute in Austria. Their absence in the Bundesliga would honestly be a tragedy – yet that’s what has been proposed as they’ve been denied a license for next season, which is the first time it’s ever happened to them. It’s because of their financial situation, and it’s rumoured that they need to raise 7 million Euros in the next week – or they’ll be automatically demoted to the Regionalliga. Their fans were out protesting in Vienna yesterday, some of which were carrying coffins to signify the death of the club. It’s not a good time to be affiliated with Austria Vienna in any capacity, really.
Sadly, they’re not going to be the only team hurt by the global situation. Last year’s Austrian Cup finalists, Austria Lustenau, are in a similar position to Austria Vienna, having been denied a license to compete in the division below. They’ve started a crowdfunding campaign in a bid to keep the club going but it’s obviously very difficult. If you want to know where the Austria Vienna players are at, then consider the following; two of their best players have announced that they’re leaving since the above was released to the public. Sarkaria will join Sturm Graz at the end of the season, and Monschein looks set to join LASK very soon. That’s two of their best attacking players.
Even with what’s left, I still think that they’ve got a better team than St. Polten on paper. It’s hard to imagine that they’ll be in any kind of condition to compete in this match though. Their players are not going to be happy, and based on the nature of the problem, I’d have to assume that some of them (if not all of them) are owed unpaid wages at this point. I can’t imagine anyone really being motivated to shine here, not when it’s all likely to be rendered utterly redundant by the outcome of their appeal next week. They need a benefactor to bail them out, but there isn’t one in sight at the moment. Essentially, I expect Austria Vienna to play like zombies today.
Even St. Polten should be able to win this type of game, you know? They’re really not a good team, but they at least work hard and give a shit in every single match, which is all I’m looking for in a contest at a time like this. They’ve not been terrible lately, St. Polten, but for all of their huffing and puffing, they’re simply not scoring enough of the chances they create – and a team like this will seldom leave an encounter without conceding. Their main attackers, Schmidt and Hugi, haven’t scored a Bundesliga goal in months now. I’d like to think that’d change today though. If not, St. Polten are in a dreadful position!
Muhamedbegovic’s absence in defence for the home team is not ideal but again, it’s their attack that interests me. If they can press Austria Vienna hard and high, I think they’ll force enough errors to ultimately find the back of the net. They’re tenacious enough to keep the capital club away from their own goal at a time like this. All Zellhofer’s men need is a bit of luck to get that first goal, but if they do, then they really should pick up three potentially invaluable points today.
I genuinely hope Austria Vienna get out of this mess but there’s no room for sentiment in football betting, and the cold, harsh reality here is that it simply makes sense to back St. Polten to win this battle of wills with draw no bet cover.
Verdict: St. Polten to win with draw no bet at 11/10.
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.
Australian A-League:
Western United vs Central Coast Mariners
Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory
Austrian Bundesliga:
St. Polten vs Austria Vienna
SV Ried vs SCR Altach
Admira Wacker vs Hartberg
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Antwerp vs Racing Genk
Sporting Charleroi vs AS Eupen
Bulgarian A PFG:
Botev Plovdiv vs Slavia Sofia
Arda vs Beroe
Croatian Prva Liga:
Rijeka vs Lokomotiva Zagreb
Czechia Liga 1:
Mlada Boleslav vs Opava
Sigma Olomouc vs Teplice
Karvina vs Ceske Budejovice
Viktoria Plzen vs Baumit Jablonec
English Premier League:
Newcastle United vs West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Sheffield United
English FA Cup:
Chelsea vs Manchester City
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Flora Tallinn vs Trans Narva
French Ligue 1:
Angers SCO vs Stade Rennais
Olympique de Marseille vs Lorient
German Bundesliga:
Borussia Moenchengladbach vs Eintracht Frankfurt
VfL Wolfsburg vs Bayern Munich
SC Freiburg vs Schalke 04
Union Berlin vs VfB Stuttgart
Augsburg vs Arminia Bielefeld
Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs Koln
German Bundesliga 2:
St. Pauli vs Wurzburger Kickers
Hungarian Liga 1:
Ujpest vs Mezokovesd-Zsory
Varda SE vs Ferencvaros
Paksi SE vs Zalaegerszegi TE
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Maccabi Petah Tikva vs Hapoel Be’er Sheva
Maccabi Haifa vs Ironi Kiryat Shmona
Bnei Sakhnin vs Hapoel Kfar Saba
Maccabi Netanya vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Italian Serie A:
Crotone vs Udinese
Sampdoria vs Hellas Verona
Sassuolo vs ACF Fiorentina
Cagliari vs Parma
Italian Serie B:
Empoli vs Brescia
Pisa vs Cosenza
Monza vs Cremonese
Vicenza vs Lecce
Reggina vs Reggiana
Salernitana vs Venezia
Cittadella vs Chievo Verona
Pordenone vs Frosinone
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Panevezys vs Nevezis
Hegelmann Litauen vs Banga Gargzdai
Portuguese Liga 1:
Belenenses vs Maritimo Funchal
Vitoria Guimaraes vs Santa Clara
Moreirense vs Tondela
SL Benfica vs Gil Vicente
Rio Ave vs Sporting Braga
Portuguese Liga 2:
Feirense vs Varzim
Romanian Liga 1:
Universitatea Craiova vs Sepsi
Chindia Targoviste vs Hermannstadt
Gaz Metan Medias vs Voluntari
Russian Premier League:
Akhmat Grozny vs FK Khimki
Lokomotiv Moscow vs Rostov
Rotor Volgograd vs Dinamo Moscow
FK Krasnodar vs Zenit St. Petersburg
Spanish Copa del Rey:
Barcelona vs Athletic Club
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Hammarby vs Mjallby Solvesborg
Swiss Super League:
Sion vs FC Zurich
St. Gallen vs Luzern
Swiss Challenge League:
Grasshopper Zurich vs FC Wil
SC Kriens vs FC Schaffhausen
Turkish Super Lig:
Denizlispor vs BB Erzurumspor
Trabzonspor vs Hatayspor
Yeni Malatyaspor vs Alanyaspor
Goztepe vs Galatasaray
Enjoy your free betting tips!