Grasshoppers vs Lugano

Grasshoppers host Lugano for this Swiss Super League round 24 clash at Letzigrund Stadion in Zürich early Friday morning Beijing time. I expect a slightly more low-scoring match than the betting market on average or most football journalists online. This increases the probability of a draw and my fans and myself winning the bet Lugano +0.5 goals handicap. The main rationale for this is the fact that Grasshoppers players’ confidence seems to be pretty low, especially in offense and there have been more goals scored in many of their matches recently than would have been realistic in terms of expected goals. The Swiss League as a whole is far from the level of the top leagues like The English Premier League or The Spanish La Liga but still offers decent entertainment for football fans as there are some talented youngsters playing in this league. The three top teams in the standings Zurich, Basel and Young Boys are clearly better than the rest of the field at the moment. The worst teams Lausenne and Luzern are very limited to say the least.. Young Boys and Basel have had some success even in the Champions League during the past 10 years..

Lugano is the fourth best team in the league according to my power ratings that illustrate the teams’ raw class. 4th is also their current position, with 36 points, in the standings. They are in pretty good form having won 3 of their latest five matches. In their most recent match, they took a solid win at home over a pretty good team Servette 2-0. The win by two goals’ difference flatters them a bit but it was still a good performance. On the other hand, on the 19th February they were unlucky to lose against St. Gallen 0-2 at home as they recorded much more scoring attempts and would have deserved at least a draw. St. Gallens’ Jordi Quintilla did receive a red card in the 58th minute though.. Grasshoppers, on the other hand, are in very bad for and have won just one of their latest 10 matches! This win was achieved over the worst team in this league, Lausenne, who only have 12 points in the bank.. I have been pretty disappointed on Grasshoppers in most matches and would be surprised if they were to win today over a much better opponent! The home advantage is there but the visitors are still the favorites.