The 23rd round of Switzerland Super League will serve us with a match between 7th placed Luzern and 10th placed Grasshoppers, who will look for a chance to win today and ultimately get closer to jumping out of the relegation zone.
Grasshoppers are as of now the worst team in the Super League with an overall record of 5-3-14 and 18 points after 22 rounds. Looking at their last 5 games, Grasshoppers are 0-1-4. In the last 5 games played, they lost to Thun (1:0), Basel (0:4), Zurich (3:1) and played a draw against Thun last week (1:1). The match against Thun is a prime example of a match that should have ended differently. Thun were the better side overall, however, luck was not on their side that day. After scoring an early goal (13th minute), Zurich missed a penalty in the 15th minute, which instead of giving them a lead of 2:0 turned into a goal for Grasshoppers who equalized the match in 19th minute. Thun not only missed a penalty but also failed to score 2 great opportunities. To sum it up, Grasshoppers should be thankful for their goalkeeper who made some exceptional saves, which earned them the first point in the last 6 league games. Still, I am not too convinced by the team, mainly their defence which was borderline nonexistent.
The visiting side, Luzern are currently sitting at the 7th spot in the league with an overall record of 8-2-12 and a 1-1-3 record in the last 5 league matches. Much like Grasshoppers, Luzern is coming into this match after a draw last week, when they played against Zurich. In the mentioned match, Zurich scored an early goal in the 8th minute, which remained the only goal in the 1st half. The second half did not see much more action, with only 4 shots on goal from both teams combined. The match seemed like it will end with a score of 1:0 until Lucas found his way to the net and scored an equalizer with only 10 minutes left in the match. While the draw against Zurich at Letzigrund Stadion is impressive on its own, I believe Luzern could have won if their players used the chances better. Nonetheless, a good result and a morale-boosting draw for Luzern.
I was not convinced by Grasshoppers in their last match, where they should not have even got a point, but the ball is round and matches like that will happen. What concerns me about Grasshoppers is their defence, which is as of now the 2nd worst in the league. In the course of 22 games, Grasshoppers conceded 43 goals, 10 of which in the last 5 games alone. On the other side, Luzern are not a particularly good team this season, however, we saw an improvement in their performance last week when they faced off against Zurich. This match seems like it could go either way, but I am just not too keen on Grasshoppers to win here or even hold out a draw. In the last 2 home games, Grasshoppers lost to Basel (0:4) and Xamax (0:1), while Luzern managed to grab a point against Zurich and just barely lost to Xamax (2:1) in an away game. In conclusion, I fancy Luzern to perform up to par today and defeat Grasshoppers for the 2nd time this season.
Prediction: Luzern to win
Odds: 2.34 Pinnacle
