After the conclusion of the winter break, the Ö Bundesliga returns to action this weekend as 2nd placed Red Bull Salzburg entertain 4th placed Admira Wacker Mödling at the Red Bull Arena. This will be the third of three meetings between the two this season, having come up against one another on matchday 3 and 9. The first saw Salzburg comfortably beat Admira 5-1 at home, but on their trip to Mödling, only a point was attained that day, thanks to a late equaliser from Xaver Schlager.
Going into break, Salzburg’s form began to stagnate, as they drew their final three games, scoring once, and failed to score in the final two against Wolfsberg and LASK Linz. Although, they were able regain their scoring touch just before jetting off to Málaga, thrashing Wals-Grünau 13-1 in a game where Gulbrandsen came off the bench to score 5 second-half goals. In the remaining four friendlies, Salzburg scored thrice or more in three of them, including a 5-0 victory versus Viktoria Plzeň.
Admira also come into the game off the back of a good mid-season break, after winning all four of their games. Including victories against Tianjin Quanjian and Steaua Bucharest. Their domestic form, on the other hand, ended on an inconsistent note, winning then losing in each of their final 5 fixtures. Admira’s preparations for the season’s kick-starter were dealt a huge blow earlier this week, as leading scorer Christoph Knasmüllner packed his bag and left for England on Wednesday.
Red Bull Salzburg post an impeccable home and defensive record this season, as they remain unbeaten on their own turf and have conceded only 14 goals in the 20 games that have been played thus far. So Admira are to gain anything from Marco Rose’s men, they’ll not to be on top of their game.
Match Information
Date: Saturday 3rd February 2018
Kick-off: 18:30 (CET)
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Referee: Julian Weinberger
Broadcasting: Sky Sports (Austria)
Previous Meetings
Admira Wacker Mödling 1-1 Red Bull Salzburg | Red Bull Salzburg 5-1 Admira Wacker Mödling | Admira Wacker Mödling 1-1 Red Bull Salzburg | Red Bull Salzburg 0-1 Admira Wacker Mödling | Admira Wacker Mödling 0-4 Red Bull Salzburg
Current Form
Red Bull Salzburg: D | D | D | W | W.
Admira Wacker Mödling: W | L | W | L | W.
Team News
Red Bull Salzburg
Injured: Marin Pongračić (Knee), Christoph Leitgeb (Hand Fracture).
Doubts: Duje Ćaleta-Car (Adductors), Andreas Ulmer (Fever), Manus Dabbur (Shoulder).
Flyeralarm Wacker
Injured: Daniel Toth (Hip), Dominik Starkl (Adductor), Maximillan Sax (Knee), Manuel Maranda (Ankle).
Suspended: Marcel Holzmann.
Predicted XI
Red Bull Salzburg
Walke
Lainer – Onguéné – Ramalho – Farkas
Samassékou
Haidara – Berisha
Wolf
Minamino – Hwang
Admira Wacker Mödling
Leitner
Posch – Wostry – Strauss – Ebner
Lackner – Vorsager
Schmidt – Kalajdzic – Grozurek
Jakoliš
Score Prediction
Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 Admira Wacker Mödling
