Botosani – Chiajna

Important game in the Romanian Liga 1 relegation battle. FC Botosani will look to get an edge at home over the bottom half of the table rivals, but the hosts are in some horrible form at the moment.

Despite being newcomers in the Liga 1, FC Botosani was one of the biggest surprise in the first part of the season, even topping the table for a few rounds. However, the poor quality in the squad seems to have surfaced lately, as the hosts dropped to the 11th place in the standings thanks to a woeful patch of form. Botosani is on the back of 6 consecutive losses and have last won a game 8 matches ago. The bad run determined the team president to publicly affirm his mistrust in manager Popovici, who in turn announced that he will most likely resign in the winter break following these statements. Needles to say, the atmosphere is at an all time low in Botosani thanks to the bad results and Popovici`s announced resignation (a very capable coach in my opinion – if it were not for him, Botosani would probably be in the relegation zone, as the quality in the squad is just not at Liga 1 level). In the last round, Botosani lost 5-0 to leaders Astra. Today`s hosts have performed better away from home so far.

Chiajna was involved in a typical Eastern European football circus in the summer, when they were initially relegated, only to be reinstated in the Liga 1 after two rounds had already passed. Nobody was expecting Chiajna nu make any noise early on, as the team was considered physically unprepared, but under controversial coach Ionut Chirila, Concordia posted some great results. The team is on the 12th place, 1 point behind Botosani, but they have 2 games in hand. Chiajna is in good form lately, only losing to strong Dinamo on the road (1-2) in the last 8 matches. In the last two outings they demolished Sageata Navodari (4-0) and held a top team like Vaslui to a scoreless draw away from home. Chiajna has some interesting foreign players along with some promising romanian youngsters, one could say without fear of mistaking that their quality is above that of Botosani. A low point for Chiajna however was their poor performance on the road, where they lost 4 out of the 6 matches played.

Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle.

Team news & lineups

Botosani is pretty much at full strength, missing only Tanasa. Chiajna will miss Melinte, Onduku, Bucurica and Ispir. Onduku is a huge blow for Concordia, as he is arguably their best player – at least on the offensive end.

Botosani: Curileac – Patache, Poverlovici, Dinu, Acsinte – Codoban, Tincu, Croitoru, Vraciu – Carjan, Hadnagy.

Chiajna: Ramniceanu – Cretu, Leca, Bambara, Savin – Papasterianos, Roşu – Purece, Coşereanu, Serediuc – Wellington.

I find it very hard to explain the odds here. I was expecting the visitors to miss something like 11-12 players when I saw the bookies prices. Chiajna is the better team and they are playing some really solid football, with a fast pace (for romanian standards) and dynamic approach. The visitors battled it out even with the best teams in the league and they are in great form. On the other hand, Botosani is in disastrous form and there is a poor atmosphere at the club with the coach announcing his resignation. The hosts have also been far from impressive at home, where they won a single game this season. Onduku`s absence for Concordia is indeed a blow, but at the end of the day he is just a player. The only other reason for such high odds is Concordia`s poor record on the road (1-1-4). I can’t see Botosani winning this one – not with their current form and not against a team which lost only once in the last 8 matches, end even in that loss they put in a good performance.

I struggled a little bit with my choice here. Backing Chiajna to win (or evenDraw No Bet) is a huge value bet, but on the other hand I wouldn`t like to miss out on the profit here if a draw occurs. Double chance seems like almost a lock (operating word – almost), but at the same time you`re losing value a little bit. I`ve decided to go with Chiajna +0.25, which is still a value bet with some excellent odds and we`ll get half of the profit if the game ends in a draw. My tip is FC Botosani – Concordia Chiajna 0-1.

Pick: Concordia Chiajna (+0,25 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 2.83 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 14.64
Event date: 1 December

Editor Facts

• Rostick won his last 5 tips in the Romanian Liga 1 and Romanian Cup