FC Zurich are set to host FC Winterthur at Stadion Letzigrund in Switzerland's Super League on Sunday in each side's second game of the 2024-25 season.
The home side are second with three points after one matchweek and have played a game fewer than league leaders Servette, while Winterthur are sixth with three points after winning their first match 1-0 against St Gallen on July 20.
Match preview
The hosts defeated Yverdon 2-0 in their opening league game on July 20 thanks to two late goals from Juan Jose Perea and Umeh Emmanuel.
Yverdon held out until the 72nd minute and limited Zurich to just two big chances from their 20 shots.
Last term, FCZ finished fourth with 60 points from 38 matches, which marked a significant improvement on their 2022-23 points tally of 44.
In fact, they have only bettered the 60 points they accumulated in 2023-24 in the top flight on two occasions in the last 12 seasons.
This achievement is made even more impressive when considering that boss Bo Henriksen left by mutual consent to join Mainz 05 in February.
Current manager Ricardo Moniz took charge in April 2024 from caretaker coaches Murat Ural and Umberto Romano, and he has won six of his seven games so far.
Zurich scored 44 goals and conceded 35 times in 33 regular season games last campaign, and of the 12 teams in the division, these numbers represented the sixth-best offensive and second-best defensive records respectively.
It could be argued that opponents Winterthur's 1-0 victory on the opening matchweek was somewhat fortunate given they failed to create a single big chance against St Gallen and faced 22 shots.
Last term, Winterthur finished fifth with 49 points in the regular season, one more point than Sunday's hosts.
In that period, they scored 55 goals and conceded 56 times, and these records made them the division's third-best offensive and 10th best defensive team.
However, in the championship playoff group, the visitors lost all five games and ended eight points behind Zurich.
Winterthur's game against St Gallen was manager Ognjen Zaric's first match in charge, and his current position is his first managerial role since 2020.
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Team News
In terms of injuries, the hosts will be without Rodrigo Conceicao on Sunday due to a knee injury.
Nemanja Tosic and Bledian Krasniqi were forced off against Yverdon, though only Tosic missed Zurich's last match against Shelbourne on July 25 in the Europa Conference League qualifiers.
As for the visitors, they come into the game without defensive midfielder Adrian Durrer and forward Roman Buess.
Matteo Di Giusto scored Winterthur's winning goal against St Gallen, and he is likely to retain his place in the XI.
FC Zurich possible starting lineup:
Brecher; Gomez, Katic, Kryeziu, Wallner; Matthew, Conde, Krasniqi; Perea, Marchesano, Emmanuel
FC Winterthur possible starting lineup:
Kuster; Sidler, Lekaj, Arnold, Diaby; Stillhart, Zuffi; Rohner, Di Giusto, Fofana; Turkes
We say: FC Zurich 3-0 FC Winterthur
While Winterthur did show resilience in their win against St Gallen, they could have easily conceded in that match.
Additionally, Zurich will be confident of victory given the visitors struggled to create much in their last game.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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