Reigning Swiss Super League champions Young Boys will be looking to secure their first win of the season when they travel to face Yverdon Sport at the Stade Municipal on Saturday.
The visitors currently occupy the bottom spot in the division with one point, while the hosts are two places above them in 10th position on the same number of points but with a superior goal difference.
Match preview
Yverdon Sport, promoted to the top flight as champions in 2022-23, successfully retained their Swiss Super League status with a third-placed finish in the relegation round last season.
Anticipated to be battling against relegation once more this term, their start to the campaign has been less than ideal, as they are one of the three teams without a win.
Alessandro Mangiarratti's side have suffered two defeats and drawn one of their opening three matches, while conceding five times and finding the net just twice.
Following a 2-0 loss to Zurich on the opening day, they were edged out 3-2 by Servette in their second game before claiming their first point in a goalless draw against Winterthur last time out.
Mangiarratti will be hoping his team can secure their first victory since 2001 against Saturday's opponents, which would also represent their first win of the season.
Having won six of the last seven titles, Young Boys head into the new season aiming to extend their dominance, but their start to the campaign has been far from ideal.
Defeats by 2-1 to Sion, 3-1 to Servette, and 4-0 to St Gallen left them bottom of the table, a position they maintained despite a 2-2 draw with Zurich in their most recent outing.
With Patrick Rahmen appointed as the new manager in July, the former Swiss footballer will be disappointed with the team's early-season form, which has left him under pressure.
Having lost both away matches so far, Young Boys face another difficult trip on Saturday, but they will be encouraged by their record against Yverdon, having beaten them six times in 10 meetings with just one defeat.
Conceding a league-high 11 goals, Young Boys must improve defensively if they are to arrest their slump, and they will hope to use their next match as a starting point to climb up the table.
Team News
The hosts will be without a number of players due to injury concerns, including Adniellyson Silva and Varol Tasar, who are recovering from cruciate ligament injuries.
Johan Kury, Magnus Grodem and Ricardo Azevedo are all also out with injuries, while they will also be without Moussa Baradji due to a muscle issue.
The visitors are expected to be without several players for this clash, with Alexandre Jankewitz, Facinet Conte, Loris Benito, Mohamed Camara and Saidy Janko all certainly missing out.
Kastriot Imeri is also on course to miss this clash due to a ligament injury he suffered after the last match.
Yverdon Sport possible starting lineup:
Bernardoni; Tijani, Marques, Kamenovic; Gnakpa; Loucif, Kacuri, Cespedes, Le Pogam; Omoruyi, Rodrigues
Young Boys possible starting lineup:
Van Ballmoos; Blum, Zoukrou, Husic, Hadjam; Males, Niasse, Chaiwa; Colley, Ganvoula, Ugrinic
We say: Yverdon Sport 1-2 Young Boys
We expect an improved performance from the visitors after their failure to win any of their games so far, and this is even more likely as they face a home side that has also struggled but possesses lesser quality.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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