After four consecutive away fixtures before the international break, Red Bull Salzburg fans welcome the side back to the Red Bull Arena on Saturday where they will face St. Pölten in a fixture that has a guarantee for goals.
In the just the previous two meetings alone, Die Roten Bullen have found the net an impressive 13 times, with six of them coming in Lower Austria earlier in the season. Salzburg’s home form against this weekend’s opponents is even more impressive as 23 goals have been scored in the last four matches.
Alexander Schmidt’s side have an uphill task to contend with one of Europe’s most prolific teams, but they come into the match in their best run of form this season. After attaining seven points from their opening 12 matches, they are turning it around with two consecutive wins in the league against Rapid Vienna and Tirol on top of a ÖFB Cup win over Ried.
With St. Pölten posing a -22 goal difference, Jesse Marsch’s side will look to take advantage of that and add to their already impressive +44, however, they will be without the talismanic Erling Håland, who picked up a knee injury while training with Norway. With this is mind, rotation could be in order as one eye will be on the all-important clash with Genk on Wednesday.
Match Information
Date: Saturday, November 23, 2019.
Kick-off: 17:00 (CET)
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Referee: Andreas Hot
Broadcasting: Sky Sport Austria 1 (Austria)
Current Form
Red Bull Salzburg
Rapid Vienna 3-2 (H) | Ebreichsdorf 0-5 (A) | Mattersburg 0-3 (A) | Napoli 1-1 (A) | Wolfsberg 0-3 (A)
St. Pölten
Sturm Graz 0-4 (H) | Ried 1-0 (H) | Rapid Vienna 0-1 (A) | Tirol 5-1 (H) | Vorwärts Steyr 1-1 (A)
Head-to-Head
15.09.18: St. Pölten 1-3 Red Bull Salzburg
16.12.18: Red Bull Salzburg 5-1 St. Pölten
21.04.19: St. Pölten 1-1 Red Bull Salzburg
26.05.19: Red Bull Salzburg 7-0 St. Pölten
17.08.19: St. Pölten 0-6 Red Bull Salzburg
Team News
Red Bull Salzburg
Injured: Antoine Bernède (tibia fracture), Alexander Walke (fractured foot), Cican Stanković (thigh tear), Smail Prevljak (neck), Erling Håland (knee)
Absent: Patrick Farkas (illness)
St. Pölten
Suspended: Sandro Ingolitsch
Predicted Line-ups
Red Bull Salzburg
Coronel – Kristensen, Ramalho, Onguéné, Ulmer – Camara, Junuzović – Okugawa, Szoboszlai – Daka, Koïta. (4-2-2-2)
St. Pölten
Riegler – Rasner, Meisl, Drescher, Huhamdbegovic, Davies – Ambichl, Hofbaur, Luxbacher – Balić, Pak. (5-3-2)
Score Prediction
Red Bull Salzburg 4-1 St. Pölten
