Bordeaux vs Slavia Prague Predictions

Slavia Praha have been in great form recently, but will they slip up against Group C’s bottom club?

Praha are unbeaten in their last nine games and currently sit four points clear on top of the Czech Liga. They have only lost two of their 16 league games so far and have been outstanding in the three competitions they’ve had to juggle over the past two months. The league, cup and Europa League have all been coming at Slavia thick and fast but they have coped with each challenge so far.

In Europe, they have won two and drawn one of their four group games so far and look on course to qualify in second place. They are only one point behind Zenit though and with two games left, they should be aiming to clinch top spot from the Russians. They had a pretty disappointing draw at home to Copenhagen a few weeks ago in the competition and despite Slavia having 14 shots compared to their opponents’ one, they still couldn’t find the back of the net in an extremely frustrating match.

They have generally been on fire in front of goal though as they have scored 15 in their last five matches excluding the Copenhagen game. Miroslav Stoch and Michal Frydrych have been at the forefront of these goals and will have to been earmarked by the Bordeaux defence. Praha have been in scintillating form and will expect to walk all over the worst team in the group, just as they did to the French in September at home.

Bordeaux haven’t won any of their last seven matches in all competitions with four draws and three losses making it such a barren run for the team. They have only scored three goals in this time and with them failing to beat 18th placed Dijon at the weekend, this just put the cherry on the cake for how poor the Girondins have been this season. They managed to clinch European football by finishing 6th last season on goal difference but have been so disappointing since they’ve had the opportunity in a major continental competition.

They are still to win a game in the Europa League after three defeats and a draw and have looked far below the standard of many of the teams competing. The managerial duo of Eric Bedouet and Ricardo Gomes has looked woeful and Bordeaux need to be careful that this poor form doesn’t get the better of them or they could really find themselves in some trouble towards the bottom end of Ligue 1. Ultimately, this game isn’t a priority for the Girondins now; they have no chance of qualifying further in the competition and have a massive match at home to PSG on Sunday after the champions looked awkward in their 1-0 win over Toulouse. Bordeaux should be smelling blood here and aiming to get something from that match, so this game against Slavia should pretty much be a throwaway.

Bordeaux have only won one of their last five home games while Slavia have only lost two of their last eight on the road and have seen defeat in just one of their Europa League games so far, against group leaders Dynamo Kyiv. Slavia were pretty dominant when they beat Bordeaux in September and even though it only finished 1-0, Praha had six shots on target compared to the Girondins solitary strike. Bordeaux have kept clean sheets in their last two games so we think this could be a low-scoring game as the French try and recoup some dignity but we ultimately don’t see Slavia losing this game so we’re going to back an identical result to the match in September and predict a 1-0 win for Praha.