Two sides that ended last term in the Swiss Super League at opposite ends of the table will face off for the first time this season when Young Boys take on FC Winterthur at Stadion Wankdorf on Saturday evening.
The defending champions come into this match in fourth place after the first two matches of the season, while the visitors are yet to record a win and are currently second-bottom, with just a single point so far.
Match preview
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Young Boys were incredible last season and secured their 16th league title and fifth in the last six seasons, winning the Super League with 74 points, which was a massive 16 points better than their closest challengers, Servette.
Following a relatively straightforward opening match win over newly promoted outfit Stade Lausanne-Ouchy, Raphael Wicky's side were held to an unexpected 2-2 draw by Yverdon Sport last weekend.
Jean-Pierre Nsame gave this side the lead from the penalty spot just before the break, and Filip Ugrinic got the second, but they were unable to secure the points as their opponents equalised twice in the match to claim a share of the spoils.
Still, the hosts will be expected to bounce back to winning ways immediately on their home patch, where they held the league's best record last season as the only side that were unbeaten with 14 wins and four draws in 18 matches at Stadion Wankdorf.
In fact, to find the last time that Young Boys suffered defeat on home soil in the Super League, you would need to look all the way back to March 2022 against Lugano, which is a total of 23 matches ago and includes 18 wins and five draws.
After securing promotion to the Super League in the 2021-22 season, Winterthur managed to maintain their top-flight status by the slenderest of margins as they outscored Sion by a single point last season.
While they did manage to evade relegation, their tally of 32 points was the lowest of any side that had avoided the drop since the 2014-15 season when FC Vaduz recorded 31 points after 36 matches.
By the looks of it, Patrick Rahmen's side are likely to battle it out at the bottom of the table again this season as they played out a stalemate against Luzern in their first match of the season while slumping to a 5-2 defeat to Basel last weekend.
With that loss, Winterthur have now failed to win a single league match in their last six, losing five and drawing one, while only managing one win in their last 10, dating back to April this year when they overcame St Gallen 3-2.
In addition, the visitors recorded the worst away record of any side in the league last season, with just 13 points earned from a possible 54 and a record of three wins, four draws and 11 losses in 18 matches on the road.
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Team News
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The defending champions have three absentees and will have to make do without the services of David von Ballmoos (knee), Ulisses Garcia (leg) and Sandro Lauper (meniscal) through injury.
Kevin Ruegg managed three goals and nine assists last season for Young Boys, earning him a recall to parent club Hellas Verona, which likely means that one of Kastriot Imeri or Joel Monteiro will take his place in midfield.
In the opposite dugout, Rahmen will be without midfielder Francisco Rodriguez and defender Roy Gelmi as the pair have missed both league matches so far and could be out for a while longer.
Matteo Di Giusto was the side's top scorer last season and opened his account for this term against Basel last weekend and should continue in the number 10 role behind Roman Buess.
Young Boys possible starting lineup:
Racioppi; Benito, Lustenberger, Camara, Janko; Niasse, Ugrinic, Monteiro, Rieder; Elia, Nsame
FC Winterthur possible starting lineup:
Kuster; Diaby, Stillhart, Schmid, Sidler; Jankewitz, Zuffi, Ballet, Di Giusto, Burkart; Buess
We say: Young Boys 3-1 FC Winterthur
Young Boys are unbeaten against this opposition in their last five meetings, which included two 5-1 wins last season. While we expect the visitors to find the target in the match, it is difficult to see the reigning champions lose this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
