Slutsk vs Dinamo Brest Predictions

• Dinamo Brest were unbeaten away from home in the 2019 Belarusian Premier League
• Both teams have scored in six of Dinamo’s last seven league games
• Slutsk lost five of their six 2019 home games against Belarus’s top six

Dinamo Brest ended BATE Borisov’s 13-year run as champions when they won the Belarusian Premier League last season but their title defence began with a poor start when they were held to a 1-1 home draw by newly-promoted Smolevichi-STI last weekend.

The champions dominated the contest, winning the shots on target count 7-2, but struggled to convert their chances against a team who conceded just five goals in sealing promotion from the First League in 2019.

Despite that stuttering beginning to the campaign, Dinamo will still be expected to bounce back when they visit Slutsk, who finished 11th last season, just four points ahead of the relegation playoff place.

Dinamo’s 2019 campaign was a dominant one which saw them finish five points clear of BATE and ten points ahead of third-placed Shakhtyor. They were crowned champions with only one defeat in 30 matches, a 2-1 home loss against Dinamo Minsk.

Slutsk won their final three matches of last season to avoid relegation and began the new campaign with a 3-1 victory over Slavia-Mozyr, but they finished 41 points adrift of the champions and were beaten both home and away by Sergey Kovalchuk’s men.

Kovalchuk has lost the services of joint-top scorer Pavel Nekhajchik, who has joined BATE, but he has retained the services of imposing 12-goal striker Denis Laptev and reinforced his squad with the winter editions of Albanian international midfielder Elis Bakaj and Belarusian international winger Kirill Pechenin.

Dinamo are likely to face a scrap in their bid to retain the title but they should have too much class for Slutsk. The hosts were the third lowest scorers in the Belarusian Premier League last season but they have scored at least two goals in their last four competitive matches and could grab a consolation in defeat to the favourites.