Oostende vs St. Liege Match Preview

Oostende finished the regular season at 5th place with 53 points, entering the group for Europa League qualifiers but they do not in their best form for this duel. In the last five matches, they managed to get a single win, a draw, and three losses. It is true that two of these losses came in friendly games, but still, the team is not clicking right now and I see it hard for them to prevail in the first place here.

They have scored 49 goals which makes them the worst offensive side from the top half teams while conceding 41. Twice in the last five matches, they failed to score a single goal. At home, things look worse for them as they are winless in the last five matches with a single draw and four losses. Again three losses were in friendlies but they faced teams ranked lower like Kortrijk and Gent.

St. Liege, on the other side, finished the regular season at 6th place with 50 points and could have a better finish if they didn't suffer a surprising loss against Mouscron. They come after three wins and two losses over the last five matches, including a loss in the Cup final against Genk. Now they can fully focus to secure a spot in Europa League for the next season.

They have scored 52 goals showing a better offensive side than their rivals, while conceding the same number of goals, 41. In the last three league games, they scored nine goals and conceded just once, managing to keep a clean sheet twice. I think their defensive side will play a crucial role in this game.

In conclusion, I think St. Liege can manage to win or get at least a draw here. In the previous two h2h games against Oostende this season they got a 1-0 win at home and 2-2 draw on the road. Not just this but the last time Oostende won a game was back in 2016. Since then there have been ten matches between them where St. Liege won seven and three ended in a draw.