Osijek vs Lokomotiva Zagreb Prediction: Direct duel for the 4th place

Osijek and Lokomotiva are in a direct battle for fourth place, a position that leads to the qualifications of the Conference League. Osijek are currently in the lead, and the victory here is important for them also because of the inconvenient schedule until the end of the season. On the eve of Saturday's test, the White and Blue have another weight, they are winless in the last three games they played in the Opus Arena. The last time they celebrated in front of their fans was two and a half months ago against Gorica.

Form: WLWWW

Osijek have four games to save the season. They finally caught a good result streak and won four of the last five games with a home defeat against Istra in which they had one less player in the field for an hour, but the fact that the placement in Europe will depend on the outcome best suggests how much work is ahead of Osijek games against the only four teams that the White and Blue have not won this season!? Lokomotiva, which stopped Osijek in the quarterfinals of the Cup, Dinamo, Rijeka, and Varazdin have so far known how to deal with Osijek, and Zoran Zekic's team faces a big challenge at the end of the season to finally stop that negative trend and turn it to their advantage. The first challenge will be this match against Lokomotiva, and with a win here Osijek can enter in other matches a little bit relaxed.

Form: WLWDL

Ahead of the duel with Osijek, there are many reasons for optimism at Lokomotiva, especially after the confident victory over Rijeka. Cabraja's team is excellently organized, with the fact that away games this season did not pose too much of a problem. In fact, Lokos have never been more successful away from home in their first league history. They won 25 points out of 48 possible. In the last six months, Lokomotiva lost only one away game, the one against Rijeka on February 17. With a point, Osijek would remain at plus one compared to Lokomotiva, but also with a more difficult schedule, since after Slavonia, Lokos still have home games against a shaken Slaven Belupo and an unstressed Hajduk, as well as a visit to Rudes. A win would be the jackpot, and a loss might be the end of European hopes.

It will be the match of the season for Lokomotiva and Osijek. Those 90 minutes this Saturday at the Opus Arena can either push the White and Blues toward Europe or take them away from it. Osijek and Lokomotiva have played 52 league games so far, and the white and blue have only a slightly better ratio between them - 19 wins, 17 losses, while 16 games ended without a winner. And one of those 17 defeats especially hurts the people of Osijek. Their three matches in the league this season ended in a draw and both teams scored a goal while in the Cup Lokomotiva won 1:0. I think that Osijek have more chances to win at home, and I expect both teams to score a goal in this match.