Neuchatel Xamax v Thun

It can’t be denied that Neuchatel Xamax are showing much more spirit since the arrival of experienced manager Jeff Saibene. The Luxembourgish manager has a good record in Swiss football and inherited a team that had lost their opening six matches of the Challenge League season. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, Xamax have won only one of the seven matches that followed that losing run, but they have scored in all of them and picked up points in draws against Vaduz, Schaffhausen and Aarau. The 3-3 at Brugglifeld last time out was the first time they’ve avoided defeat in two successive games since mid-May.

FC Thun will be hoping for a pick-me-up on their visit to the Stade de la Maladiere after losing a third consecutive game last weekend. Prior to losing those three games, FCT were one of the form teams in the division after seven games unbeaten, but they find themselves in a rut recently. There will be some encouragement taken from their late rally away to Lausanne last weekend as they pushed the league leaders at the Tulliere until the final whistle in that 2-1 loss.

This game can have goals at both ends. Xamax are scoring goals again under Jeff Saibene but conceding goals remains a problem. Thun have only failed to score in two of their thirteen games in the Challenge League and fired two past Xamax in a 2-1 home win at the end of September. The last six meetings in a row have had BTTS and eight of the last nine at the Stade de la Maladiere have had that result too.

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Yverdon-Sport v Lausanne

After a difficult run of form at the end of August and throughout September, Yverdon-Sport have returned to winning ways in the month of October to reinsert themselves back into the promotion race. A 2-1 victory on the road in Ticino against Bellinzona last time out was their third win in a row after also picking up three points away at FC Thun and in an emphatic 3-0 victory at home over Schaffhausen. A visit from top-of-the-table Lausanne sounds ominous on paper, but there will be confidence around these parts given the shaky away record that LS bring to the Municipal. 

Lausanne are where they were predicted to be before a ball was first kicked in this division back in late July. However, they haven’t been able to pull away from the pack due to their troublesome away form. Ludovic Magnin’s men also haven’t been able to string two wins together since late August due to three successive defeats on their travels to Thun, Stade Lausanne-Ouchy and FC Wil. Still, they boast the strongest team in the division and one would expect improvement in this area eventually.

I think both teams can score here. YS are back in form and prolific, their 26 goals is the highest in the Challenge League, but they also are second for most goals conceded. LS have scored 23 goals themselves but are conceding with alarming regularity, failing to keep a clean sheet in seven of their last eight. All signs point towards both teams being able to find the net and they have the firepower to do it with Koro Kone (YS) and Brighton Labeau (LS) joint top-scorers with nine goals each.

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FC Wil v Schaffhausen

There isn’t usually anything significant about a drab 0-0 draw in football. There was in the case of the scoreless offering from Vaduz and Wil last week though as it marked the first time FC Wil have participated in one in just a day shy of two years. It is a rarity indeed but also probably a welcome result for FCW as they kept a second successive clean sheet to make it two games unbeaten following a very out-of-character and disappointing 5-1 away defeat at Bellinzona two weeks ago.

There are not many positives that can be gleaned from Schaffhausen’s recent displays. They are the lowest-scoring side in the division and have won only two of their last nine matches after a promising beginning to a season that hinted at replicating their promotion challenge from last year. 

The plastic surface at the Lidl Arena makes FC Wil’s home a notoriously difficult place to go. Brunello Iacopetta’s team are unbeaten in their six games at the venue so far this season, winning five of them. Their strong record is further illustrated by the fact they lost only five of their eighteen matches there in a 21/22 campaign that they conceded 80 goals in. Thankfully, they’re a lot stronger and watertight defensively in 22/23 and already kept a clean sheet away at Schaffhausen back in August. I’d take FC Wil draw no bet as they have all the tools to win this, but FCS have only lost two of six away games this season, one of which was to Lausanne and can be stubborn.

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Stade Lausanne-Ouchy v Aarau

Stade Lausanne-Ouchy had posted three wins in a row prior to a surprising and rare home loss to Vaduz two weeks ago and all eyes were on the promotion contenders last Sunday to see if they could bounce back on their visit to Schaffhausen. A comfortable 2-0 victory with goals in each half brought a swift return to form and kept SLO on the tails of their neighbours and league leaders Lausanne, trailing by just a single point before Aarau come to the Pontaise in Round 14 of the Challenge League.

Aarau’s hosts are in exactly the position that the men from Brugglifeld would’ve been expected to be in at this stage of the season. Instead, after a strong start, FCA are winless in their last five games and have slipped down to sixth position in the table. A pair of 2-2 draws with Yverdon-Sport and Thun, a 4-0 defeat at Vaduz, a shock 1-0 home loss to Bellinzona and a 3-3 home draw with Neuchatel Xamax in which they held 2-0 and 3-2 leads has raised concerns about if this side, one that threw away promotion on the last day in 21/22, can become consistent enough to challenge in a season that has three spots up for grabs.

My pick is for Over 2.5 Goals here. As much as the manner of SLO’s defeat to Vaduz was inexplicable, the match followed a familiar trend as they conceded at home for the twelfth successive game, and they rarely fail to score themselves. Aarau have scored in all but one of their last seventeen away games and in their last six visits to SLO. These two played out a 3-3 draw in August and five of their last six meetings have also featured three or more goals.

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