Five consecutive defeats in the 2. Liga has seen Liefering endure the embarrassment of sliding down to near the foot of the table, despite a prosperous start to the campaign. Such a downturn in form will have had a psychological effect on the squad, but this week could finally see a change in fortune as fellow mid-tablers, Wacker Innsbruck II, visit the Red Bull Arena.
To say Liefering’s form of late has been disastrous would be a huge understatement, and the situation was made much worse on their trip to face David Schnegg’s former team-mates in Wattens. With Dominik Szoboszlai and Mahamadou Dembélé the notable absentees, Gerhard Struber was left without a centre-back he could trust and red-faced at the full-time whistle as he and his squad were comfortably handed their heaviest defeat of the season thus far
Wacker Innsbruck II’s season has one filled with twists and turns, just like this week’s opponents, but in recent weeks the road has begun to straighten out, with two draws and a win in their last three matches. Last weekend, Innsbruck held host to Austria Vienna Young Violets, who left the Tivoli-Neu with a point in hand, succumbing their rivals to back-to-back draws.
The two had become accustomed foes during their days together in the Regionalliga West, but this will be the first meeting between the two for five years, as well as the first in Austria’s second division. Liefering have a good record against this week’s guests and are unbeaten in their last seven against them. This could be the game where the run comes to an end.
Match Information
Date: Friday, November 9, 2018
Kick-off: 19:10 (CET)
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Referee: René Eisner
Broadcasting: Laola1 (international)
Previous Meetings
26.03.11: Liefering 3-1 Wacker Innsbruck II
08.10.11: Liefering 2-1 Wacker Innsbruck II
17.05.12: Wacker Innsbruck II 1-5 Liefering
29.09.12: Liefering 2-1 Wacker Innsbruck II
19.05.13: Wacker Innsbruck II 2-2 Liefering
Current Form
Liefering
Blau-Weiß Linz 2-1 (A) | Lafnitz 1-2 (H) | Weiner Neustadt 2-1 (A) | Floridsdorf 1-3 (H) | Wattens 4-0 (A)
Wacker Innsbruck II
Wattens 1-1 (A) | Ried 1-0 (A) | Kapfenberg 3-0 (H) | Horn 1-1 (A) | Young Violets Austria Vienna 0-0 (H)
Team News
Liefering
Injured: Anderson Niangbo (unknown), René Hellermann (anterior cruciate ligament), Rami Tekir (anterior cruciate ligament), Alexander Schmidt (unknown)
Wacker Innsbruck II
N/A
Predicted Line-ups
Liefering
Köhn
Gazibegović – Dembélé – Stumberger – Mensah
Pokorný
Camara – Szoboszlai
Diakité
Adeyemi – Koïta
Wacker Innsbruck II
Wedl
Pribanovic – Joppich – Markel
Zaizen – Bacher – Conte – Taferner – Kofler
Gründler – Ibrisimovic
Score Prediction
Liefering 1-1 Wacker Innsbruck
