Altach v Admira Wacker

Having previously lost 10 league games in a row, lowly Altach have now taken four points from their last two matches and scored more than once for the first time since August in their 2-1 victory against Ried last time out. They remain bottom on 10 points, three places and four points below next opponents Admira, whose current seven-game unbeaten streak away from home is their longest in the top flight for over 30 years. They drew 0-0 with WSG Tirol last time out, having beaten Ried 2-0 in the game before that.  

The Vorarlbergers will be without first-choice shot-stopper Christoph Riegler, plus the outfield trio of left-back Nosa Edokpolor, forward Sandi Krizman (both injured) and right-back Manuel Thurnwald (suspension). The loss of striker Krizman will be a particular blow for a side that has managed only 12 league goals all season. The most notable absentee for their Lower Austrian visitors is left-back Leonardo Lukacevic, though striker Marlon Mustapha is expected to return after contracting the coronavirus in mid-March.

While both teams are experiencing an upturn in form at present, it is the visitors who have the better head-to-head record, with 14 wins, 10 draws and six defeats from their 30 previous meetings. The Lower Austrians have also won over half (eight) of their 15 away matches in Vorarlberg. Based on that record and Altach’s miserly goal per game average of 0.5 this term, our money would be on Admira to take the points.

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LASK v Ried

Bragging rights mean everything on derby day – and it will be no different when these two rivals from Upper Austria meet on Saturday afternoon. Their two previous clashes this season have been fiercely contested but low-scoring, with the home team winning by a goal to nil on both occasions. Historically speaking, the record in this regional rivalry tends to be relatively even, with LASK winning 15 times and Ried 18 times, while there have been 12 stalemates as well.

LASK boss Andi Wieland’s sole personnel concerns will be in the defensive department. Regular centre-back Petar Filipovic is still out long-term, while fellow defender Filip Twardzik – a winter break arrival from Spartak Trnava – tore ankle ligaments shortly before the recent international break. Ried have not been quite the same without joint top scorer Seifedin Chabbi (six goals), who is missing for the visitors along with right-back Matthias Gragger, left winger Philipp Pomer and striker Leo Mikic. 

With the head-to-head record so tight, the form book could prove to be decisive in this meeting of the top two in the Qualification Group. While leaders LASK (16 points) have lost only two of their last 11 matches (five wins, four draws), second-placed Ried (14), who only narrowly missed out on the Championship Round, appear to be in freefall after losing to struggling Admira and Altach in their last two games. With that in mind, we’d back LASK to take the points – and bragging rights – in this one.

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Hartberg v WSG Tirol

Third-bottom Hartberg and second-bottom WSG Tirol will go into this relegation crunch clash separated by only one place and one point in the table. Both sides are on a dismal run of form: the Styrians have not claimed three points in the league since the end of November and have not scored a league goal in almost 500 minutes of football, while WSG Tirol’s only Bundesliga victory of 2022 came in this exact fixture last month, the Tyroleans claiming the points thanks to Bror Blume’s fifth-minute winner.

Attacking midfielder Donis Avdijaj, who has been a regular starter this season, is expected to miss this match with coronavirus. He is the only absentee for Hartberg, although four players that form the spine of the team are only one booking away from suspension and will need to exercise caution. WSG Tirol have two fringe players – Englishman Renny Smith and German Maxime Awoudja – banned for this game. Forward Tobias Anselm, who is recovering from a torn cruciate ligament, is the only player still injured.

With both teams facing a desperate battle for survival following bottom club Altach’s recent upswing and only one goal scored between the sides across the last four rounds of matches – the one in this fixture last month – our prediction is for under 2.5 goals here. The Austrian Bundesliga tends to be a free-scoring league on the whole, but it is hard to see where the goals are going to come from in this scrap to beat the drop.

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Austria Vienna v Austria Klagenfurt

Having missed out on the Championship Round in both the last two seasons, Austria Vienna are making up for lost time this term: they have taken four points from their first two games and the 1-1 draw with cross-city rivals Rapid last time out was the first time they have dropped points at all in 2022! Promoted Austria Klagenfurt have arguably been the surprise package of the season, though they have lost both games since the league split 3-1 – to Rapid Vienna and Sturm Graz respectively.

Austria Vienna’s attacking midfielder Muharem Huskovic and left-back Filip Antovski are both ruled out by suspension, while defenders Johannes Handl (ill) and Georg Teigl (fractured jaw) have not yet returned to the fold. There’s only one new absentee for Austria Klagenfurt but it’s an important one: centre-back Thorsten Mahrer, who has made 20 league appearances this season, has a ligament injury and is not expected to return to action until the end of April.

There are currently three places and five points between Austria Vienna (third, 20) and Austria Klagenfurt (sixth, 15) in the table. The two clashes in the regular season were the first competitive meetings between the sides and both ended in draws (1-1 in Vienna and 0-0 in Klagenfurt). But with Austria Vienna having made their best start to a calendar year since their 2013 title-winning season (W5 D1) and Austria Klagenfurt having lost three consecutive league games for the first time all season, we think a home win is the likeliest outcome.

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Wolfsberg v Sturm Graz

It has been a strange season for Wolfsberg, who have consistently alternated between short winning and losing streaks. Their recent slump of four defeats from five games – a run in which they have lost twice to both Austria Vienna and Salzburg – has seen them drop from second place around a month ago to fifth. Sturm Graz sit in second spot in the table and have actually lost only one league game – a slender 1-0 defeat to the league leaders – since the end of November.

Wolfsberg centre-back Luka Lochoshvili is still recovering from the nasal bone fracture he sustained in the very first minute of the Championship Round and left-back Jonathan Scherzer is expected to miss the rest of the season with a ligament injury. Sturm Graz are close to full strength, with defensive midfielder Ivan Ljubic and left winger Luca Kronberger – both of whom are regular starters – the only new injury doubts.

Clashes between the Wolves and the Blackies tend to be quite high-scoring, with their two previous meetings this season having produced eight goals. Interestingly, the home team lost by a three-goal margin on both occasions – and that could well be the case again given the two sides’ respective form. But we believe the safer bet would be to back over 2.5 goals. Historically speaking, that bet has come through in four of the last five Bundesliga meetings between the teams.

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Red Bull Salzburg v Rapid Vienna

Gary Lineker famously once said: “Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and, in the end, the Germans always win.” A similar saying could apply to this fixture – billed as the ‘Klassiker’ in recent years in a bid to generate hype. Because whenever these two teams meet, Rapid always battle hard for 90 minutes but Salzburg always win. The Red Bulls are currently on a 10-match unbeaten streak against the Green & Whites and have scored more than one goal in each of their nine wins during that run.

Salzburg currently have a number of key players with question marks hanging over their involvement in this match. Goalie Philipp Köhn has a knee injury, while the dynamic attacking duo of Brenden Aaronson and top-scorer Karim Adeyemi have knee and hamstring problems respectively. Rapid could also be without first-team regulars, with creative outlet Yusuf Demir and defensive duo Emanuel Aiwu and Jonas Auer all contenders to miss the trip west. Shot-stopper Paul Gartler has also been out for the last month too.

Their heavy defeat to Bayern Munich aside, Matthias Jaissle’s team are unbeaten in all competitions since November and are closing in on a ninth consecutive Bundesliga title – the runaway leaders are 12 points clear with 10 games to go. Fourth-placed Rapid are not having a bad season and have made notable progress under coach Ferdinand Feldhofer, but we advise you to back Salzburg to win and score more than once. Their streak against Rapid will come to an end someday – but at the moment, it’s the safest bet in Austrian football. 

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