When these two teams met last season, they were at opposite ends of the table with Luzern battling relegation and Zurich already well on their way to an unlikely title triumph. As they match up at the swissporarena on Saturday, the roles have been mostly reversed. Luzern aren’t title-chasing, but they are thick in the hunt for European places while it is last season’s champions Zurich that are scrambling to get their campaign back on track as they trail Winterthur by four points at the bottom.

Luzern did start the season relatively well but have been mostly inconsistent and entered the winter break after two straight defeats without scoring to FC Basel and Young Boys. Defending has been an issue for Mario Frick’s side as they started with three clean sheets in their first seven before going on to concede in their next nine matches. A more worrying fact is that their opponents were able to score at least two goals in four of those nine matches. They do score themselves, they’ve only been shut out at home only twice this season, both against sides in the top half, but their frail defence has cost them too many points.

Zurich showed the sprouts of recovery in the weeks leading up to the break under manager Bo Henriksen. The Dane had replaced Franco Foda in October and immediately improved results as the reigning champions held out for draws against YB and Basel before finishing up in November with a surprising 4-1 victory over second-placed Servette. FCZ have also made moves in the January window with Daniel Afriyie signing from Hearts of Oak in Ghana and 19-year-old striker Roko Simic joining on loan from Salzburg.

I think we will have both teams scoring at the swissporarena. Luzern are leaking (and scoring) goals for fun and while FCZ haven’t been free-scoring away from home, there are enough signs of improvement under Henriksen to suggest that is changing and that they can hurt this Luzern defence.

Grasshoppers have experienced a rollercoaster season so far in 22/23 and would’ve been grateful to disembark from the ride for a couple of months in November. That prolonged break comes to an end on Saturday evening with the record Swiss champions hoping for a much more settled second half of the season. Their first sixteen games were nothing if not entertaining with 28 goals scored (third-highest) and 30 goals conceded (second-highest) and 11/16 having at least three goals. The 1-0 victory over Basel at the Letzigrund in that final game before the break back on November 12th was a welcome anomaly, earning GC their first 1-0 win at home since 2018 and only their second clean sheet of the season.

Young Boys are back as the (uncrowned) kings of Switzerland. The club from Bern entered the winter break with a ten-point lead over Servette in second and have looked a class apart from the rest. After meekly surrendering their title last season, YB are back under Raphael Wicky and will be keen to pick up where they left off in November. With next to no transfer activity in this window, YB are settled and in a very good place.

Home games for GC normally equal goals, however, they managed just one against an FC Basel side that has the second-strongest away defence in the league but that are also the third-lowest scorers on the road in the division. The difference with YB is that they have both the strongest defence (5 conceded) and are second for goals scored (15) on their travels. When you consider that GC have conceded 14 goals in 8 at the Letzi, it is an ominous sign.

Grasshoppers definitely carry a threat at home, but with YB’s potent attack and strong defence, I think YB will have enough to return to action with three points on Saturday.