Genk vs Lokeren Predictions

It’s top vs bottom here in Belgium this weekend as league leaders Genk face a Lokeren side cut well adrift at the bottom of the table. Genk currently sit top of the table and 6 points clear of nearest challenges Club Brugge who travel to struggling Eupen this weekend. Lokeren on the other hand are in abysmal form and it’s seen them plummet to the foot of the table and 9 points away from safety.

Genk have been the league leaders for some time now however they have seen their lead at the top of the table cut week by week as they have put in some poor displays. They are winless in 5 games in all competitions, 3 in the league and they were dumped out of the Europa League losing 4-1 at home to Slavia Praha after drawing 0-0 in the Czech Republic in the opening leg.

As aforementioned Genk’s league form has taken a dip recently, winless in 3 after losing 3-1 at Club Brugge, and drawn 0-0 at home to Antwerp and 1-1 at Charleroi. They know this is a game they can’t afford to slip up on as they will fancy their rivals to win at Eupen and close the gap to 3. For being top you would be forgiven for thinking they would have the best home form however they sit as low as 4th in the home table this season. They have won 8, drawn 4 and lost 2 on home soil picking up 28 points from a possible 42 on offer. They have scored 25 goals at home (5th most) and conceded 12 (joint 2nd least) at home this season.

Lokeren are in an absolute mess, they have lost 8 of their last 9 league games with the only exception being an unexpected 2-1 win at home to an Antwerp side who was topping the away form table at the time. That win aside they have been in trouble for a while and now sit 9 points adrift of the nearest side. They are the only side in the division who have not won an away game this season, after they have drawn 2 and lost 12 of their 14 away games this season.

Genk are as short as 1/8 to win this game and based on the aforementioned statistics it’s not hard to see why. For how poor they have been on the road this season Lokeren do have a goal in them, they have scored away against 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th in the league this season making both teams to score look attractive. We are going one step further here as we can’t see how Genk do not win this game so we are taking Genk to win and both teams to score. On the correct score front Genk haven’t blown teams away at home, with their biggest margin of victory at home being 2 goals since the end of September. For that reason we think this will be a job done type of game and on that basis going for Genk to win 3-1.