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Belarusian Premier League | Gameweek 6

Apr 26, 2020 at 4pm UK

FC Minsk Stadium

Isloch
2 - 0
Vitebsk

Komarovski (37' pen.), Yansane (55')
Patotsky (7')

FT(HT: 1-0)

Skitov (37')

Preview: Isloch vs. Vitebsk - prediction, form guide, head-to-head

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 24 April 2020

Sports Mole previews Sunday's Belarusian top-flight clash between Isloch and Vitebsk, including predictions, form guide and head-to-head records.

Vitebsk make the trip to the FC Minsk Stadium to face Isloch looking to extend their unbeaten streak in the Belarusian Premier League to four games.

Isloch head into Sunday's contest sitting just one point adrift of the joint leaders, providing them with the opportunity to move ahead of the visitors in the standings.

Match preview

Dinamo Brest and Isloch in the Belarusian Premier League on April 12, 2020 © Reuters

Isloch head coach Vitaly Zhukovsky would have had concerns for the progress of his team after witnessing them suffer consecutive defeats for the loss of six goals earlier this month.

However, last week's 2-1 success over Slavia Mozyr has got the club back on track in sixth position, heading into gameweek six with just one point separating them and three joint-leaders.

Forward pair Nikolay Yanush and Dmitri Komarovskiy are aged 33 and 35 respectively, but their respective contributions mean that Isloch have already had four different attackers get on the scoresheet this season.

With seven goals having been shipped, Isloch must improve at the back to build on last season's fifth-place finish, but there are signs that they have the necessary attacking options to challenge for their first-ever top-flight crown.

As far as Vitebsk are concerned, picking up seven points from their last three outings suggests that they are well equipped to improve on only claiming 13th spot during the last campaign.

Still being able to reach the cup final indicated that it may have been more of a prolonged blip over a long-lasting demise, and it appears that is going to be the case.

Sergey Yasinsky will naturally want to see more goals, with the four strikes since the beginning of the season following just 24 being recorded from 30 games last year.

Despite a modest return during the early stages of his career, Ion Nicolaescu is starring for Vitebsk in the final third with goals coming in his last two appearances.

Vitebsk have already recorded four points from three away games this season, which includes a draw with table-toppers Slutsk.

Isloch form: WWLLW

Vitebsk form: WLWDW

Head To Head

In their eight previous meetings, both teams have had their fair share of success, with Vitebsk claiming four wins in comparison to three victories for Isloch.

While Isloch prevailed by a 3-0 scoreline in the corresponding fixture last season, it marked their first home win in four fixtures over Sunday's opponents.

We say: Isloch 1-1 Vitebsk

Everything points to his game being a closely-fought battle. Having gotten back on track last week, Isloch will be confident of registering a second successive win, but Vitebsk have already shown this season that they have the resolve to earn at least a share of the spoils.