Istra 1961 vs Varazdin Prediction: A lot of problems ahead of extremely important match for Istra

On Friday, starting at 7 p.m., 9th-placed Istra and 6th-placed Varazdin will open the 17th round of the SuperSport HNL at Aldo Drosina stadium. This match against Varazdin is of great importance for the green and yellow team. The rival is only three points away and holds the sixth place. The impression of that position is much nicer compared to the ninth one. Istra’s manager David Catala has a lot to worry about. First of all, he will not be able to count on two fast wings, Mateo Lisica and Ekong. Ante Majstorovic will be available, who served a two-game suspension due to being sent off against Slaven Belupo. It is already clear that the match will be played on a muddy field. It is raining in Pula, and such weather is predicted until the end of the weekend.

Form: LDWWL

As I predicted, in the previous round Istra failed to continue their solid form from before the representative break and deservedly lost 2:0 against Hajduk on home ground. From the result itself, the focus was more on the fans who stormed the field, so a few days ago Istra and Hajduk were fined. However, Istra that we are watching this season are not even a shadow of last season's team that was put together by former coach Gonzalo Garcia. However, with numerous changes in the lineup and a new coach, a drop in results was to be expected. Istra are currently in penultimate place and will most likely avoid relegation due to the disastrous Rudes, but they do not have the capacity to achieve more than that. 

Form: LLDDD

The schedule has not been kind to Varazdin recently, who played against the three strongest clubs in HNL, Dinamo, Rijeka, and Hajduk, against whom they won only one out of a possible nine points. This deepened the crisis in the team, who last celebrated in the HNL at the end of September over Gorica. Despite the bad streak, thanks to the good results from the beginning of the season, Varazdin are still in the middle of the table, but only three points above today's rival. For today's match, they won't be able to count on top scorer Fran Brodic again, which will further dull his club's attack, which has only scored two goals in the last five rounds. 

At times, Istra even looked good against Hajduk, so Varazdin can’t allow to relax on the always difficult visit to Drosina. It is an extremely important match for both teams and a match in which Istra can catch a connection with the middle of the table by possibly celebrating, so I expect that both teams will not take too many risks, and the match could be decided by one goal. Varazdin lacks the best scorer and that's why they will have to rely on their defense, and Istra will have to do the same, so I decided to bet on, under than 2.5 goals.