Slaven Belupo vs Lokomotiva Zagreb Prediction: Slaven are looking for the first points

Slaven Belupo and Lokomotiva will play a match as part of the 3rd round of the HNL on Saturday, August 17, 2024. This match will be played at the Ivan Kusek Apas stadium in Koprivnica, it will start at 10:00 p.m. and will be refereed by Patrik Kolaric. Let's add that the Pharmaceutics welcome this match without points in the last, 10th place of the HNL, while Lokos are eighth and have one point, but they earned that point by playing 1:1 against Hajduk at home. 

Form: LLLWW

Slaven Belupo experienced two defeats in Dalmatia in the first two rounds, first against Hajduk (1:2), then Sibenik (0:2). The team from Koprivnica were the second-weakest host last season. In 18 games in front of their fans, they won only 18 points, and only Rudes was worse than them. Their manager Radeljic emphasizes that the goal this season is to change that rather negative trend. What is not going their way is last season's record against Lokomotiva. In four championship matches, Pharmaceutics only won once, with as many as three defeats. And if we were to look at the last four meetings between Slaven and Lokomotiva in Koprivnica, the statistics are even more devastating for Slaven. Two defeats and two draws, and the last home victory against the club from Kajzerica was celebrated in December 2022. 

Form: DLDDL

Lokomotiva, after losing to Rijeka in Rujevica (0:4) in the last seconds of stoppage time, came from a penalty in Zagreb to a point against Hajduk (1:1). Lokomotiva, are greatly weakened compared to last season, and are looking for the first victory in the new season in a stadium they are always performing well. From what we saw in the previous match against Hajduk, this team will play similar as last season, but we will see if that will bring them good results.

Both teams enter this match without a win in the first two rounds. The pharmacists opened the championship with a narrow defeat in Poljud, and then fell quite easily in Sibenik and still do not have a single point on their account. As for Lokomotiva, they started with a convincing defeat at Rijeka but improved their impression in the home test against Hajduk. Both teams have changed compared to last season, Slaven Belupo had some changes in the board and staff as well, a difficult season is ahead of them and in this match, I think that they will both score a goal and the match will end in a draw.