FCSB vs Riga FS Predictions

• FCSB have won only two of their last nine home games by more than one goal
• Riga FS have avoided defeat by more than one goal in nine of their last 10 away games
• FCSB sit 13th in the Romanian Liga I and have failed to win their last two games

FCSB look rocky at the back

Former Europan Cup winners FCSB take on Latvian minnows Riga FS in the Europa League on Thursday and a comfortable victory looks far from likely for the Romanian champions.

Elias Charalambous’ side are not in great form right now after drawing their last two Liga I games to languish 13th in the domestic standings. Down to 10 men form the 30th minute, they were seconds away from claiming a victory against Petrolul 52 at the weekend before a goalkeeping howler gifted the visitors an equaliser.

Central defender Siyabonga Ngezana, who helped the team to back-to-back clean sheets and scored in one of two solid home wins before the international break, returned injured from South Africa.  And FCSB now look a lot more vulnerable at the heart of their defence.

International crowd at Riga FS

That should encourage Riga FS, who reached the Europa Conference League group stage two seasons ago and took a couple of points from Fiorentina and Istanbul Basaksehir.

The Latvian champions are top of the table again and enjoying a good run of results with a 2-1 defeat to APOEL the only blemish on their record, although they did knock the Cypriots out on penalties.

Riga’s squad is an eclectic bunch with a Cameroonian international goalkeeper, former Czech and Serbian internationals, a couple of lively Ivorian forwards and a Slovenian skipper to go alongside a handful of Latvian internationals. They can avoid a heavy defeat in this clash with the +2 handicap appealing here at around 1/2.