ACS Poli – Steaua

Last placed ACS Poli Timisoara will take on league leaders Steaua Bucharest in the 8th round of the Romanian Liga 1.

Poli should actually be second to last in the table, but they started the season with a 14 point penalty, so they are currently bottom of the table – and might remain there for the entire campaign. The hosts were gifted a place in Liga 1 after relegating last season and found out they will play top division after the season started, days before their first match. Without a proper squad or sufficient preparation, ACS Poli lost 5 out of the 7 matches played so far – which is actually a better record than expected. Last round the hosts were demolished, 1-4, by a mediocre Voluntari team.

Steaua is on the back of a 0-2 loss to Osmanlispor in the Europa League, but the Bucharest side remains the top team in Romanian football. Having by far the best squad in the league, Steaua is sitting on the first place with 5 wins and 2 draws in 7 matches. They only failed to win against arch rivals Dinamo (1-1) and against CSMS Iasi (1-1), in a match where Steaua had to virtually field the reserve squad to to various reasons.

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Team news & lineups:

ACS Poli is decimated ahead of this clash, missing Poparadu, Canu, Seroni, Vadrariu, Sorescu and Vraciu. Steaua misses Pintilii, Filip and Momcilovic, all long term injuries. The visitors might choose to rotate the squad a bit after their European clash, as they have plenty of options to do so.

ACS Poli: Curileac – Straut, Scutaru, Bocsan, Novak – Artean, Llorente – Barbut, Croitoru, Rosu – Henrique

Steaua Bucharest: Nita – Jakolis, Tamas, Moke, Tosca – Achim, Muniru – Popa, Boldrin, De Amorim – Tanase

Even if Steaua is coming after a European clash, they are just too dominant in Romania and it’s looking very unlikely that ACS Poli, one of the worst two teams in the league, could create any problems for the visitors.

Steaua has a very deep squad, maybe 20 players of the same quality and can afford to rotate the lineup a bit for this match, avoiding the european hangover effect.

ACS Poli on the other hand has a dirt poor rosted, mainly created for the second division, where they were expected to play. They have no depth and miss a lot of players, which will be a huge problem for them.

Quality gap is just too big here and injuries will not help the hosts to spring an upset. Steaua will be eager to bounce back after the Osmanlispor loss and I feel odds of 1.40 for an away win are pretty decent. My tip here will be Steaua to win and cover the 1 goal asian handicap. Prediction: ACS Poli – Steaua Bucharest 0-2.

Pick: Steaua Bucharest (-1 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.73 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.84
Event date: 18 September