Sint-Truidense vs Union Saint-Gilloise Predictions

• Sint-Truidense finished last season strongly but were beaten 2-0 by strugglers Seraing in pre-season last week.
• Union Saint-Gilloise won 15 of their 20 top-flight away games last season.
• Union thrashed Feyenoord 4-0 in their most recent friendly.

Union still strong enough to warrant support

Two teams that exceeded expectations last season meet on opening weekend when a Union Saint-Gilloise side with Champions League aspirations take on Sint-Truidense. The visitors’ second-place finish as a promoted club has got them into a third qualifying round tie against Rangers in a couple of weeks time.

The coach who led them to first place in the regular season – before they were overtaken by champions Club Brugge in the championship round – has left for a bigger job at Anderlecht and their 25-goal top scorer Deniz Undav has been recalled from loan by sister club Brighton.

However, they have made some shrewd offseason additions and their pre-season results and performances have been superb. Last week’s 4-0 demolition of Conference League finalists Feyenoord showed they are in good enough shape to start the season with a bang.

Visitors can scrape a 1-0 win

Backing Karel Geraerts’s side to take all three points here offers a decent reward – probably because hosts STVV enjoyed a superb end-of-season run to finish ninth with seven wins and two draws in their last nine league games.

They were dangerous customers last season but have lost key midfield cog Dimitri Lavalée, who protected their defence so well last season, and were beaten 2-0 by strugglers Seraing in their last friendly.

Union’s prospects this term will rest with Belgium international Dante Vanezir again and whether he can operate as successfully with new boy Dennis Eckert as well as he hit it off with Undav, but the early signs are promising and on that basis they are backable here. A 1-0 away victory that mirrors the result when these two faced off in February looks the plum choice of correct score options.

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