Preview: Lugano vs. Luzern

Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Swiss Super League clash between Lugano and Luzern, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Fresh off the back of a first-leg victory over Partizan in the Europa League qualifiers, Lugano play host to Luzern at the Cornaredo Stadium in round four of the Super League on Sunday.

As for the visitors, they picked up their first win of the new Swiss campaign last time out and will head into the weekend looking to secure consecutive league victories for the first time since February.

Match preview
© Imago

Italian defender Mattia Zanotti came up clutch for Lugano on Thursday when he netted a 73rd-minute winner to hand them a 1-0 victory over Partizan in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round clash at the Partizan Stadium.

This was a much-needed result for the Bianconeri, who were dumped out of the Champions League qualifiers in the second round following a 6-4 aggregate defeat at the hands of Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce.

Back home, Mattia Croci-Torti’s men have flown out of the blacks this season, picking up three wins from their first three Super League games while scoring seven goals and conceding three to start the campaign.

After claiming a 2-1 victory over Grasshopper Zurich in the season opener on July 20, Lugano edged out Basel 2-1 at the St. Jakob-Park on July 27, one week before mounting a second-half comeback to secure a 3-1 win over Servette.

Lugano have come into the new season looking to surpass their performance from last term, when they finished second in the standings and suffered a penalty-shootout defeat against Servette in the Swiss Cup final.

© Imago

Luzern, on the other hand, got their season up and running last Saturday as they picked up a narrow 1-0 victory over Sion when the sides squared off at the Swissporarena.

Following a goalless first half, 24-year-old midfielder Nicky Beloko broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half before the hosts held first to see out all three points.

Prior to that, Luzern kicked off the campaign with a somewhat disappointing 2-1 defeat at the hands of Servette on July 21, six days before playing out a 2-2 stalemate with Grasshopper Zurich at the Stadion Letzigrund.

Next up for Mario Frick’s men is the challenge of going up against an opposing side who are unbeaten in 15 of the last 20 encounters between the teams, picking up 10 wins and five draws since June 2009.

Luzern will need to be at their best at the Cornaredo Stadium as they head into the weekend without a win in six of their last seven away games in the league, losing three and claiming three draws since the start of March.

Lugano Swiss Super League form:

Lugano form (all competitions):

Luzern Swiss Super League form:

Luzern form (all competitions):

Team News
© Imago

With the Europa League qualifying return leg against Partizan on the horizon, Lugano could rest a few key players this weekend, with Hicham Mahou and Renato Steffen potentially coming into the starting side.

Shkelqim Vladi’s 40th-minute strike was enough to hand the Bianconeri a 1-0 victory over Luzern back in March and the 23-year-old could be handed his first start of the season on Sunday.

At the defensive end of the pitch, Ayman El Wafi and Antonios Papadopoulos should form the center-back pairing once again while Anto Grgic should retain his role at the centre of the park.  

Like this weekend’s hosts, Luzern head into the weekend with a clean bill of health and no suspension concern, giving Frick the luxury of a full strength squad at his disposal.

Following their standout display against Sion, we expect an unchanged back four of Pius Dorn, Luca Jaquez, Stefan Knezevic and Andrejs Ciganiks, while Sinan Karweina, Jakub Kadak and Lars Villiger should spearhead the attack.

Lugano possible starting lineup:
Saipi; Valenzuela, El Wafi, Papadopoulos, Zanotti; Grgic, Correia, Doumbia, Macek; Mahou, Vladi

Luzern possible starting lineup:
Loretz; Dorn, Jaquez, Knezevic, Ciganiks; Rrudhani, Owusu, Beloko; Karweina, Kada, Villiger

We say: Lugano 2-1 Luzern
Coming off the back of a solid display against Rijeka, Lugano will return to league action with confidence as they look to maintain their perfect start to the campaign. Luzern have struggled for consistency on their travels and we fancy the Bianconeri to pick up all three points this weekend.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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