LASK hosts Rapid Vienna on Friday night at the Raiffeisen Arena as both teams kick off their 2023/24 Bundesliga campaigns.
The home team finished third place in the Bundesliga table last season, 14 points adrift of league winners Salzburg.
Unsere Athletiker siegen in Röthis 6:0 ⚫️⚪️ 📰 Spielbericht: https://t.co/Sb6fp2WP6b #RTHASK #UNIQAOEFBCup🏆 pic.twitter.com/r89mpLRnGg— LASK (@LASK_Official) July 21, 2023
Unsere Athletiker siegen in Röthis 6:0 ⚫️⚪️ 📰 Spielbericht: https://t.co/Sb6fp2WP6b #RTHASK #UNIQAOEFBCup🏆 pic.twitter.com/r89mpLRnGg
They finished the domestic season poorly, having won just one of their final five league games.
Their end-of-season league matches were low-scoring, too, as four of their last five games produced under 2.5 goals.
Despite that poor run of league form towards the end of the Bundesliga campaign, LASK have a good recent home record, as they have won four of their previous five matches on home soil.
They have also been prolific at the Raiffeisen Arena in the good run of home form, scoring at least two goals in four of their last five home games.
The visitors remain the most successful club in the history of Austrian football, having claimed the Austria title on 25 occasions.
However, the club from the Austrian capital have fallen on hard times recently, with their last domestic title coming in season 2007/08.
Last season Rapid finished fourth place in the table. The fact that the visitors won just one of their final eight games of the season was a big factor in their fourth-place finish.
A 2-1 defeat against Austria Klagenfurt on the last day of the league campaign meant that Rapid suffered three losses in their previous five matches, conceding at least two goals in four of those five games.
Rapid were poor travellers towards the end of the Bundesliga campaign, as they lost their last six away games in the Austrian top flight.
Forebet predicts that LASK will kick off their Bundesliga campaign with a victory in a high-scoring encounter.