Rapid Bucuresti v Gaz Metan Medias
Football: Romanian Liga 1
Venue: "Giulesti", Bucuresti
Monday 21th November - Kickoff time: 19:00 GMT+2

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Rapid (3rd W-8 D-4 L-1)

Rapid is undefeated in Romanian Liga 1 since a 2-0 loss to Universitatea Cluj back in August. Since then, Rapid registered 7 wins and 4 draws, results which sent them to the third position on the table.

Once again, this season proves to be a tough one for every opponent that travels to Bucharest to face Rapid, they are one of the three teams that are yet to lose a home game. Despite finishing only 4th in the previous season, Rapid only lost once in 17 games played at home, only conceding 7 goals.

Left-back Vladimir Bozovic has just returned from Montenegro, where his national team lost the tie against Czech Republic and will likely start on the bench. He will be replaced by Ezequias who returns after a 3 stage ban.

Brazilian central defender Glauber suffered a serious muscle injury at training and he’ll be out for the remaining stages of the first part of the season.

Rapid’s home record:

30.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 12 Rapid 3 - 2 Astra Ploiesti
14.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 10 Rapid 4 - 0 Dacia Mioveni
24.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 8 Rapid 1 - 1 CFR Cluj
10.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 6 Rapid 1 - 1 FC Brasov
21.08.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 4 Rapid 2 - 0 Concordia Chiajna

Gaz Metan (10th W-5 D-1 L-7)

After an enthusiastic start of the season including the elimination of Mainz 05 from the Europa League qualifiers, followed by victories to nil against CFR Cluj and Steaua Bucuresti, Gaz Metan took their feet of the pedal and are now on the 10th position, already losing 7 games.

Even though they registered decent results when playing at home, with a few exceptions (0-5 loss to Dinamo and 2-5 to Universitatea Cluj) Gaz Metan’s away results have been awful to this date, losing 5 games and winning one. Only Mioveni and Brasov have less amount of points collected from away games.

There are no signs of that record improving anytime soon if we take a look at the head to head results, since they promoted in 2008, Gaz Metan lost every time they travelled to Bucharest to face Rapid.

Coach Cristian Pustai is optimistic before this game, however, he declared that he is facing some squad issues because several injured players.

Gaz Metan’s away record:

28.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 12 Otelul Galati 1 - 0 Gaz Metan Medias
17.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 10 Pandurii Tg. Jiu 1 - 0 Gaz Metan Medias
17.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 7 Astra Ploiesti 2 - 0 Gaz Metan Medias
29.08.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 5 Dacia Mioveni 4 - 2 Gaz Metan Medias
12.08.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 3 CFR Cluj 0 - 2 Gaz Metan Medias

The betting verdict

Rapid will dominate every opponent from Liga 1 when playing at home, but Gaz Metan has the potential to play some quality counter-attack football and despite losing three consecutive times to nil, I can see them scoring at least once.

The hosts usually have a tight defense, but with two regulars missing (Glauber and Bozovic) there might be some chances for Gaz Metan to take. However, Rapid has the offensive strength to score more than once in order to secure a victory and their guests already conceded 23 goals this season and showed a lot of weakness in the defensive compartment.

Gaz Metan “managed” to concede 4 goals from bottom placed CS Mioveni, a team that only scored 9 goals in 14 games, which means that almost half of them were scored against Gaz Metan.

Considering the recent stats, I would say that 1.5 is a fair price for a probable home win, but I will take over 2.5 goals at prices above evens. Rapid’s firepower combined with Gaz Metan’s shaky defense should provide a few goals in this one.

The Pick :

Rapid Bucuresti 2-1 Gaz Metan Medias

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Rapid to win at 1.5 Betfred
Confidence: 7/10

Take Over 2.5 goals at 2.10 Bet365
Confidence: 6/10 (Main Bet)