Ried vs Rapid Vienna Prediction

Right then, let's have a proper look at this Austrian Bundesliga clash between Ried and Rapid Vienna. On paper, you'd think Rapid Vienna, sitting third in the table, should have this one in the bag. But football's not played on paper, is it?

Rapid are having a right old time of it lately - three straight losses on the bounce. They got turned over 2-0 by Lask Linz, lost 2-1 to Red Bull Salzburg, and even shipped four against Lech Poznan in Europe. That's not the form of a team pushing for the top spots, is it? They're leaking goals like a sieve, conceding 1.5 per game over their last ten matches.

Ried, on the other hand, are ticking along nicely. They're sitting sixth with 14 points and have been decent on their travels, winning two of their last three away games. They just smashed Wolfsberger AC 2-1 and put two past WSG Wattens. Here's the proper juicy bit though - Ried have got Rapid's number at home. Their head-to-head record at home against Rapid is absolutely brilliant: three wins and a draw from four meetings. That's a 75% home win rate!

Both teams seem to like finding the net. Ried have scored in 60% of their recent games, while Rapid have both teams scoring in 70% of theirs. When these two have met historically, there's usually a few goals flying about - six of their nine encounters have gone over 2.5 goals.

The stats tell us Ried average 1.3 goals per game while Rapid manage 1.2, but Rapid's defence is looking about as solid as a chocolate teapot at the moment. Ried are better at keeping clean sheets too - 40% compared to Rapid's 20%.

With Ried's home advantage against Rapid and the visitors' current defensive woes, I'm expecting both teams to get on the scoresheet here. The odds of 1.75 for both teams to score look decent value to me.