Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Women’s Champions League clash between St Polten Women and Slavia Prague Women, including predictions, team news and possible line-ups.
After beating Slavia Prague Women 1-0 in November, St Polten Women will be looking to register another victory when the two teams meet on Thursday.
Third-placed St Polten are currently four points behind the top two in their Women’s Champions League group, while the visitors have yet to score a point.
Match preview
After progressing through the qualifying rounds, St Polten got a rude awakening when they were beaten 4-0 by Wolfsburg on Thursday.
They looked to be on course to pick up three points against Roma when they took a two-goal lead, but the Italian side fought back to win 4-3.
On matchday three, St Polten’s away encounter with Slavia Prague looked set to be a goalless draw until Maria Mikolajova scored a winning goal in the 91st minute to snatch all three points from the Austrian side.
The result represents a fourth straight win in all competitions for St Polten, who have not played since beating the Czech Republic side two weeks ago.
If they are to have any chance of closing the four-point gap to the top two, they will need to pick up another win on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Slavia Prague’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages are all but over after failing to pick up a single point in their three group matches.
They were beaten 1-0 by Roma in their opening group match, before losing 2-0 in their matchday two home encounter against Wolfsburg.
Thursday’s visitors were just minutes away from sharing the spoils with Slavia Prague, but the narrow loss puts them bottom of the group.
Although they are unlikely to progress to the last 16, Slavia Prague will see Thursday’s game as their best chance to score a point in their last three group matches.
If they are to avoid a fourth successive Champions League defeat, they will need to do better than in Friday’s 2-1 loss to Slovan Liberec in the Czech First Division.
St Polten Women’s Champions League form:
Form St Polten Women (all competitions):
Slavia Prague Women’s Champions League form:
Form of Slavia Prague Women (all competitions):
Team News
St Polten will be without Jasmine Eder due to suspension after receiving a second yellow card in the 94th minute against Slavia Prague two weeks ago.
With Eder unavailable, Diana Lemesova he is expected to come to the side to partner Claudia Wenger in central midfield.
After coming on as a second-half substitute in the Czech Republic, Rita Schumacher can be included in the initial training.
As for visitors, they cannot use the services of Martina Surnovskamissing since October.
Despite losing to St Polten in November, the Slavia Prague boss Karel Pitac could select the same formation that started the 1-0 defeat.
Tereza Kozarova has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, and she will be looking to add to her tally when she leads the line on Thursday.
Possible starting composition for the women of St Polten:
Schluter; Tabotta, Balog, Klein, Fuchs; Wenger, Lemesova; Zver, Mikolajova, Schumacher, Brunnthaler
Possible starting line-up of Slavia Prague Women:
Lukasova; Vesela, Necidova, Bartovicova, Khyrova; Krejcirikova, Keene; Divisova, Szewieczkova, Cerna; Kozarova
We say: St Polten Women 2-1 Slavia Prague Women
After being involved in a competitive encounter two weeks ago, we believe Thursday’s encounter will be another close contest, but we believe St Polten will build confidence from their win in the reverse match to claim another close victory in of the fourth day.
For a data analysis of the most likely outcomes, scores and more for this match, please click here.
Trick
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this game. Click here to find out what else they predict for this game and for more of their proven football tips.Under 3.5: data