Osijek and Varaždin meet at Stadion Gradski vrt, in a match for the 14th round of 1. HNL. In the last head-to-head for this edition of the league, on 20‑09‑2020, Osijek won away by (0‑1). The record of direct confrontations of the last 3 years is favorable to the home team, which in the last 5 games won 2, drew 2 and lost 1. The home / away condition deserves particular attention, since despite this being a match between 1st and 9th of the league table, in reality it is a confrontation between the 3rd classified in home games and the 7th as a visitor.
Osijek:
The home team is currently in 1st position, with 27 points won, after 8 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses. In the penultimate match, they won away against Istra 1961 by (1‑4). In the last match, they tied in an away match against Rijeka, by (1‑1). This is a team that tends to achieve more positive results away from home than at home, as they won 14 points away and 13 at home, with 11 goals scored and 7 suffered as away, against 10 goals scored and 4 suffered at home. For the championship, Osijek won 13 points out of a possible 18, after 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the last 6 matches they played in their stadium.
In this competition, they have won the last 4 home matches and have not lost any of the last 10 they played. His attack has scored regularly, as he has scored at least one goal in each of the last 10 matches for this competition. In 13 games in this competition, he only managed 1 comeback in the 4 games in which he suffered the first goal. There is 1 period that stands out in the last 16 home matches for all competitions: they have conceded 4 of their 10 goals between minutes (31′ ‑ 45 ‘).
The home team has surprised everyone in the league and is currently the leader of the competition. To show that you can keep fighting at the top of the table, just think about winning this day. The rival is one of the last classified, being a great opportunity to add the three points. He is confident in his attack, which has proven to be very effective playing at home.
Varaždin :
The visiting team is currently in 9th position, with 9 points won, after 2 wins, 3 draws and 8 losses. In the penultimate match, they lost in an away match against HNK Gorica by (1‑0). In the last match, they tied at home against Istra 1961, by (1‑1). This is a team that tends to achieve more positive results away from home than at home, since they have won 7 points away and 2 in their stadium, with 5 goals scored and 7 suffered as away, against 6 goals scored and 15 suffered at home. In their last 6 away matches for the championship, Varaždin has recorded 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, for which they have won 7 points out of 18 possible.
For this competition, they have not won any of the last 9 matches. The team allowed goals to the opponent in 9 of the last 10 matches, so they have not presented great defensive strength, but their attack has scored regularly, since they have scored goals in 7 of the last 10 matches for this competition. In their away matches there is a tendency for few goals, since in 12 of the last 19 they played there were less than 3 goals. In 13 games in this tournament, he suffered the first goal 6 times and never got the comeback.
Varaždin has a very difficult task on this day. For a team struggling to get away from late positions, facing the leader is very difficult. However, the points he has scored so far have been achieved by playing far from his domain. As the team does not have great technical quality, it prefers to favor closer games, attacking in order to take advantage of the mistakes of the rival team. This is how you are going to try to score points in this game.
