Sion and Lausanne Sport will be looking to make it two wins from two in the new Swiss Super League campaign when they lock horns at the Stade Tourbillon on Saturday.
Les bleu et blanc have failed to win their last six competitive away games against Didier Tholot's men since a 1-0 victory in April 2017 and will head into the weekend looking to end this poor run.
Match preview
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Sion announced their return to the Swiss top flight in style as they picked up a 2-1 victory over defending champions Young Boys in the league curtain-raiser at the Wankdorf Stadium last Sunday.
In a game where Jaouen Hadjam received his marching orders, Silvere Ganvoula struck in the 14th minute to set Young Boys on their way but goals from Dejan Dokic and Ylyas Chouaref helped the visitors turn the game on its head.
Sion enjoyed an impressive 2023-24 campaign as they picked up 79 points from 36 games in the Challenge League to finish first in the table, three points above second-placed Thun, and secure automatic promotion to the Super League.
Tholot's men also edged out Etoile Carouge FC, Grasshopper Zurich, FC Onex and Young Boys in a stunning cup run before they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Lugano in the semi-finals on April 27.
Sion head into Saturday's game off the back of a 3-1 loss against Villarreal in a friendly matchup on Wednesday, with Pape Gueye, Ramon Terrats and Yeremy Pino scoring second-half goals to hand the Spanish side a comeback victory.
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Like the hosts, Lausanne Sport kicked off the 2024-25 Super League campaign as they would have hoped as they secured a 3-2 victory over Basel when the sides squared off in last Sunday's opening game.
In an action-packed first half at the Stade de la Tuiliere, the front three of Teddy Okou, Fousseni Diabate and Mamadou Kaly Sene all found the back of the net for the home side, with Thierno Barry scoring a brace to reduce the deficit for Basel.
This followed a decent pre-season campaign for Ludovic Magnin's men, who picked up two wins and one draw while scoring 10 goals and conceding nine in their five warm-up games.
Lausanne come into the new season looking to improve on their performances from last term as they finished fourth in the relegation group, just seven points above fifth-placed Grasshopper Zurich in the relegation playoff spot.
While Les bleu et blanc will look to pick up where they left off against Basel, they will need their A-game at the Stade Tourbillon as they have failed to win 16 of their last 20 meetings with Sion, losing 11 and claiming four draws since August 2011.
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Team News
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Veteran defender Reto Ziegler missed Sion's season opener against Young Boys through a knee injury and the 38-year-old is out of contention for Saturday's game.
New signing Dokic had a debut to remember last Sunday and the former Vaduz striker should lead the hosts' attack once again, alongside strike partner Chouaref.
At the opposite end of the pitch, we expect an unchanged back four of Numa Lavanchy, Joel Schmied, Gora Diouf and Nias Hefti, with 25-year-old Timothy Fayulu starting in goal once again.
Meanwhile, Lausanne Sport remain without the services of English forward Trae Coyle, who has been out of action since suffering an ACL injury against Zurich in January.
Diabate was involved in two of the three goals against Basel last weekend and the 28-year-old should retain his role in the Les bleu et blanc attack, forming the attacking trio with Okou and Senegalese striker Sene once again.
Sion possible starting lineup:
Fayulu; Lavanchy, Schmied, Diouf, Hefti; Berdayes, Kabacalman, Costa, Bouchlarhem; Dokic, Chouaref
Lausanne Sport possible starting lineup:
Letica; Giger, Mouanga, Dussenne, Poaty; Custodio, Bernede, Sanches; Okou, Diabate, Sene
We say: Sion 2-1 Lausanne Sport
Having won their opening game, Sion and Lausanne will be looking to pick up consecutive victories and put together a strong early-season form. However, Tholot's men boast a solid home record in this fixture and we are backing them to come away with all three points, albeit by a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
