St Truiden vs Eupen 04.11.2017/ Belgium
St Truiden was in a really nice form as the team managed to get a point on the road to Lokeren and had two consecutive home victories, over Mouscron and Oostende, but the side failed to prove themselves more threatening and competitive in a 4:1 defeat away from home against Club Brugge last weekend.
However, nobody will be downhearted with such outcome, since the players of Club Brugge stood as huge favorites before the match and surely are way more superior in every aspect of the game. Still, Stu Truiden gave a good fight to them in the first halftime and despite being back in the scoreline from 18th minute, they got back and replied two minutes later via Legear, however as the game progressed it was obvious that they didn't have enough energy to face up against their hosts. The team slipped down the table after this defeat, but are still at very high fourth position and surely aim to get a three pointer here in order to stay inside the play-off zone for as long as possible.
Forwards Igor Vetokele (6/2), Cristian Ceballos (2/2) and Babacar Gueye (3/0) are all sidelined with injuries, but all three being already out for some time. Game comes too soon for central back Sascha Kotysch (12/0) most likely too.
Eupen, on the other side, comes from a narrow 2:3 defeat in front of own fans against Anderlecht last weekend, giving more than a good fight to way more superior club such as Anderlecht is. They entered way too passive into the game and conceded three goals from 30th to 40th minute, two as own goals and one from Hanni, but replied much better in the second halftime.
They played without pressure in the second halftime and it gave positive results, since the side firstly reduced in 61st minute via Garcia, but then continued attacking and even though they reduced again only in 90th minute via Ocansey, the side deserved (much) more out of the clash since they have attacked and created much more chances than their passive visitors in the second halftime. The side is only second from the bottom at the moment, having just a point more than rock bottom placed side Mechelen. Goalkeeper Hendrik Van Crombrugge (13/0) shouldn't be performing here due muscle injury.
Even though Eupen comes from a pretty positive performance against Anderlecht, I don't rate them anything close to threatening away from home and can't see them repeating similar performance again very soon. St Truiden have been pretty powerful in front of own fans with solid rock solid performances and in case the side repeats anything similar, this should be their victory easier than the odds suggest.
