Salzburg vs Nice: Preview and Prediction

Salzburg vs Nice
UEFA Europa League – Group I
Date: Thursday, 20th October 2016,
Kick-Off at 18:00 UK
Venue: Red Bull Arena (Salzburg).

Both Salzburg and Nice have suffered defeats in their opening two group games and will be eyeing their first win when they lock horns on Thursday night.

Salzburg’s 1-0 defeat to Krasnodar is their first Europa League group stage defeat in 15 matches. They won 13 and drawn 1 from their previous 14 matches. The Austrian were also successful in getting through their group in 4 of their last 5 appearances at the competition. But now, they have a mountain to climb after falling 6-points adrift of joint leaders Krasnodar and Schalke.

Nice were unlucky in the 1-0 narrow defeat to Schalke at home on the opening day, but were thoroughly thrashed by Krasnodar in the second game by a 5-2 margin. This is totally opposite to their emphatic run in Ligue 1, where they boss the league table with a 4 point lead over PSG. Nice are also unbeaten in the French League after 9 matchdays. But so far, they were unable to transfer the domestic form to European nights.

Salzburg vs Nice: Head-to-Head Stats

This is the first head-to-head meeting between the two sides and Nice’s first encounter against an Austrian club.

Salzburg’s lone meeting with a French club happened during the Europa League group stage of 2011/12 season with Paris Saint Germain. They lost the first leg at Paris 3-1 and won the home leg 2-0.

Salzburg vs Nice: Prediction

The positives for Nice coming into this fixture is their strong unbeaten run in the domestic league. Their head-coach Lucien Favre normally field the strongest eleven for the Europa League games. Yet, they lost in each of their opening games. Another bad omen for the French outfit is that they are without a win in 14 away games in UEFA competitions. They lost in 10 and drawn 4 during the period with the last win outside the home ground dating back to 1959.

Salzburg are in a poor run of form and haven’t won in any of their last 4 games. But they have a habit of making late comebacks and progressing beyond the group. The stage is set for them for a come back and have the backing of a strong home supporters on Thursday night. And they also benefit from the psychological block of Nice due to their poor away form in European competitions. So our pick for this fixture is to back the home side for a win with both teams getting on the score-sheet.