Union Saint Gilloise vs Beerschot Predictions

• Union SG failed to score away to newly-promoted Dender last weekend
• Union SG lost their two leading scorers from last season in the summer
• Beerschot looked solid but created little in their opening 0-0 draw against OH Leuven last weekend

Kuyt’s side made an encouraging start

The evidence of Union Saint-Gilloise and Beerschot’s opening league games suggests goals could be on the scarce side when they meet at Stade Joseph Mariën on Friday evening.

Both clubs played out 0-0 draws in the opening round of Belgian Pro League fixtures with newly-promoted Dender holding off last season’s runners-up and Beerschot, who topped the Challenger Pro League, grinding out a point at OH Leuven.

Leuven were a solidly mid-table outfit last season, so the result was encouraging for Beerschot’s chances of avoiding the drop back down this term.  Although Dirk Kuyt’s side conceded less than a goal per game last season, they were beaten 6-0 by Club Brugge in the cup which illustrates the gulf in class between the top end of each division.

Union are not as potent as last season

A similar scoreline could be possible if Beerschot were coming up against last season’s Union side, who were pipped to the title by Club Brugge. But Les Unionistes lost their two most potent attacking players in the summer with 18-goal attacker Mohamed Amoura switching to Wolfsburg and 16-goal hitman Gustav Nilsson jumping ship to join the champions.

They signed Mohammed Fuseini from Sturm Graz to help replace them, but he remained on the bench against Dender with two back-ups from last season given their chance.

Fuseini could be given his league debut here, but Union also have to think about the upcoming Champions League third qualifying round clash with Slavia Prague that follows next week. They will surely try to end this game as a contest early and conserve energy in the second half, which could lead to them settling for a scoreline of 2-0.