BATE Borisov vs Rukh Brest Predictions

• BATE won 12 of their 15 Belarus Premier League home games last season, keeping a clean sheet 53% of the time.
• At least three goals were scored in nine of BATE’s last 11 home league games.
• BATE scored exactly three goals in four of their last 11 home league games.

BATE struggle to lift themselves after title loss

BATE Borisov have long been the conquerors of Belarusian football, but last season their iron grip on the Premier League top spot was broken as Dynamo Brest took the title away from the Borisov Arena for the first time since 2005.

This has clearly had a psychological effect on the BATE squad, with the usually dominant team losing both of their opening two league matches against Energetyk-BGU and Slavia.

Still, it’s hard to ignore their superiority when it comes to raw talent, and now that they’re back on more familiar turf we’re expecting BATE to get off the mark in the 2020 Premier League campaign.

Top flight newcomers find their feet

While the hosts may be steeped in history, Rukh Brest are almost a complete unknown. The club was only founded back in 2016 and only joined the Belarusian football pyramid in 2018, and the visitors went on to achieve back-to-back promotions.

It’s still early doors, of course, but Rukh Brest certainly seem to have adapted well to the demands on the top flight so far. They beat Dinamo Minsk away from home in their first ever Belarus Premier League match before losing to Energetyk-BGU last weekend, but they haven’t looked out of their depth so far.

BATE poised for return to winning ways

That could all change on Saturday. They’re coming up against a club that, although wounded at the moment, have completely dominated the top flight for over a decade. BATE may have started the season poorly, but back on home soil they will be confident of finding their feet again, especially when faced with such an inexperienced visiting team.

BATE won 12 of their 15 Premier League home games last season and scored 34 goals in the process and, with seven of their last nine league games at the Borisov Arena also seeing at least three goals scored, backing a BATE win and over 2.5 goals looks a great bet.

Alongside their prolific goalscoring form at home, they also managed to keep clean sheets in 53% of their outings. They scored exactly three goals four of their last 11 as well, making a 3-0 correct score prediction stand out as a good choice.