Rapid Vienna vs Spartak Moscow Predictions

Rapid Vienna and Spartak Moscow get their Europa League group stage campaigns underway this week, and it’s a fixture that could prove crucial in both teams’ race to finish in the top two. Alongside Villarreal and Rangers, none of the four teams will discount their chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds, so they’ll both be desperate to kick the group stages off with a good result.

Rapid Vienna had a year off the Europa League last season, but their excellent home results against Slovan Bratislava and Steau Bucharest in the qualification rounds this season continued their run of qualifying for the group stages when in the competition. However, this is where the competition gets tough.

In fairness, Rapid Vienna have been able to sustain their good home record throughout the group stages in recent years. In fact, they have only lost two of their last 17 home games in the Europa League, including a grand total of zero defeats in their nine group stage matches during this period.

The Austrians’ overall form isn’t particularly impressive at the moment though. They have only won four of their 11 competitive games this season, and two of those were in the aforementioned Europa League qualifying rounds. Meanwhile, Spartak Moscow have had a similarly low-key start to the season with four wins, three draws, and two defeats in their nine competitive outings.

Two of these failures to win came in the Champions League qualifier against PAOK last month, a result which sees them drop back into the Europa League after their admittedly dismal Champions League group stage campaign last season. The one positive from that ill-fated run of matches was a shock 5-1 victory at home to Sevilla, although a 7-0 thrashing at Liverpool in round six put them well and truly in their place.

Spartak Moscow’s record in Europe’s second tier competition isn’t much better. Their 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao in the knockout rounds earlier this year ended a run of nine consecutive winless matches in the competition, with them conceding a huge 26 goals over this ten game period.

However, the Russian side did manage to score in all but one of these matches, and they’re facing a Rapid Vienna side not known for their defensive stability. In fact, the hosts have seen both teams find the net in each of their last nine Europa League group games, so with this in mind we think a bet of Both Teams to Score looks promising along with a 1-1 correct score predictions.