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Steaua Bucharest and Gaz Metan Medias will play at Ghencea in the 7th round of the Romanian Liga 1, with the current two time champions in big need of a morale boosting win.
Recently Steaua had its worst string of games in three years, losing 1-0 at home to poor Ceahlaul, losing Champions League qualification to Ludogorets at penalties after a 0-1 defeat and barely winning 1-0 at Viitorul playing with one extra men for 40 minutes but even so being assaulted by arguably the worst team in the league. Their form is horrible but considering they are still the best team in Romania and are clearly a couple of levels above teams from the 5h place below, you expect Steaua to recover pretty fast – especially with the National Team break allowing players to regroup mentally after losing a lot of money by missing out on Champions League football. Steaua currently has 15 points in 6 games and is tied with Astra for the first place
Gaz Metan has a surprisingly good start to the season with 2 wins and 2 draws but they are well known for having random stretches of good results under manager Cristi Dulca and after the great start went on to lose 2 consecutive games against much weaker teams than Steaua with a 6-1 aggregate. Gaz Metan does not have too many quality players but they are a decent, disciplined table which should finish mid table and avoid relegation. The visitors are currently 10th in the standings.
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Team news & lineups
Maybe for the first time this season Steaua will field the absolute best lineup in the league, as in the previous 2 months they were focusing on Champions League qualifiers.
Steaua: Arlauskis – Luchin, Varela, Szukała, Latovlevici – Prepeliţă, Breeveld – Ad. Popa, Chipciu, Sânmărtean – Keserü
Gaz Metan: Pleşca – Creţu, Trtovac, Mujdragić, Buzean – R. Roberto, Enescu, Fl. Dan, C. Petre – Figliomeni, Buziuc
Steaua might not be the same team that clearly dominated Romanian football in the last 2 years but they still have a lot of quality for this level and are favorites to win the league. They are particularly strong at home, usually being able to cover 1 or 2 goal handicaps even with the 2nd team against opponents of Gaz Metan`s caliber. Yes, they lost the last time against Ceahlaul, but they used a lot of reserve players and it was really a fluke result that is very unlikely to happen anytime soon (it was the 3rd home defeat in almost 35 home matches, including Champions League group stage matches). I reckon the national team break will help Steaua overcome the patch of bad form, especially since many players will be returning with great morale after Romania beat Greece 1-0. Normally Steaua should never have more than 1.20 here, Gaz Metan has a decent team but they are nowhere near the level required to get a result at Ghencea in normal circumstances.
My tip is Steaua to win and cover a 1,25 asian handicap – the win really looks extremely likely, and they should be able to cover the handicap without too many problems if they improve a little bit. The last two direct meetings at Ghencea finished 3-0 for Steaua. Odds are dropping on this bet. Prediction: Steaua Bucharest – Gaz Metan Medias 3-0.
Pick: Steaua (-1,25 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.88 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 7.92
Event date: 12 September
