Austria Lustenau v RB Salzburg

With league leaders LASK not in action until later in the evening, Red Bull Salzburg will have the opportunity to return top of the table – at least temporarily – on Saturday when they travel to Vorarlberg to take on Bundesliga new boys Austria Lustenau. It has not been a strong start to their season by their usual high standards, but the Red Bulls have responded well to their defeat to Sturm and comfortably won three games on the bounce.

However, a fourth consecutive victory is by no means a foregone conclusion against a Lustenau side that has made the best start of any promoted club since the league switched to its current format in 2018/19. A last-minute derby winner against local rivals Altach in the last round means the mood in Lustenau is at an all-time high heading into the clash with the perennial champions and coach Markus Mader will believe his side can pull off an upset if they get the rub of the green in this one.

Situated mere metres away from the border with Switzerland, the atmospheric Reichshofstadion is a tough place for any team to go and that has been borne out by recent results. Even Salzburg might struggle there and that’s why we are predicting both teams to score instead of a win for the Red Bulls: Lustenau have not failed to score in a home league game (first and second tier included) since October 2021, while Salzburg last drew a Bundesliga blank in March.

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LASK v Altach

When LASK appointed new coach Didi Kühbauer – whose time at previous club Rapid Vienna had come to a rather stale and anticlimactic end – few pundits or punters would have expected them to make waves this season. But they are the early pace-setters with 13 points from five matches and remain the only Bundesliga club yet to suffer defeat this season. New signing Marin Ljubicic has been the star of the show with six goals, with Thomas Goiginger and Keito Nakamura also contributing three each.

Having staved off relegation to take their top-flight stay into a ninth season, Altach have made a slow start of it, with only four points from their opening five matches. New coach Miroslav Klose will be particularly annoyed with the way his side gifted local rivals Austria Lustenau a late winner last weekend in what was the first Vorarlberg derby in the Austrian Bundesliga since 2000.

The head-to-head record between these two sides in the Austrian top-flight also suggests that the Linzers are heavy favourites to cement their lead at the top of the division. The Black & Whites have lost only two of their past 22 meetings with the Vorarlbergers and that – along with the form book – is why we are backing LASK to take all three points and continue their joint-best start to a top-flight season since gaining promotion in 2017.

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Rapid Vienna v Sturm Graz

It remains to be seen whether Ferdinand Feldhofer is still in the Rapid Vienna dugout for the visit of Sturm Graz after the Green & Whites crashed out of the UEFA Europa Conference League final qualifying round to minnows Vaduz of Liechtenstein on Thursday evening. The home fans in Vienna were baying for blood after the final whistle and will be desperate to see a reaction in one of the Austrian Bundesliga’s most tradition-steeped fixtures.

But Sturm, who sit a place and a point above Rapid in the table having played a game more, have problems of their own to contend with. Star forward Rasmus Højlund, who only joined the club from FC Copenhagen in his native Denmark in the winter transfer window, is on the verge of a move to Serie A side Atalanta for a reported €17m. A club-record sale and undoubtedly a great piece of business for the Graz outfit, but he will surely be a hugely loss on the pitch for Christian Ilzer’s side.

Although Rapid have only tasted a home league defeat to Salzburg in 2022 and are usually a force to be reckoned with at the Allianz Stadion, the Green & Whites have not found the net more than once in any of their six domestic matches this term. Sturm have also not managed more than one goal on their travels in the Bundesliga this season and with goal-getter Højlund on his way out too, we are predicting under 2.5 goals in this game.

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WSG Tirol v Wolfsberger

Austria went into this round of midweek European fixtures with the prospect of five clubs reaching the group stages of a continental competition. Safe to say, it did not go according to plan. And while Rapid stole the unwanted headlines with their humiliating defeat to Vaduz, Wolfsberg did not fare much better either. Robin Dutt’s men were eliminated following a heavy 4-0 home defeat to Norwegians Molde – and are the only club in the Austrian Bundesliga yet to win a game this season.

Opponents WSG Tirol have been highly inconsistent this season. There have been some good results along the way – notably as they came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory against Ried last time out thanks to goals from their two Slovenian strikers – but coach Thomas Silberberger will be frustrated by some of his side’s other results such as their narrow defeats to Austria Lustenau and Austria Vienna.

With that in mind, we would be reluctant to back the home side to win this game, even though they do have the superior form and head-to-head record. Instead, our bet of choice would be for both teams to score: WSG Tirol have not kept a clean sheet in their last 12 domestic matches, while Wolfsberg have scored and conceded in every league game this season and have the joint-worst defensive record in the division (12 goals conceded).

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