Slutsk vs. Gorodeya – Belarusian Premier League, November 7, 2020

There may be other important games in the Belarusian Premier League this weekend but there is a real relegation six-pointer in Slutsk as Gorodeya comes to town.

With just three games left in the season, it looks ever likely that one of these two clubs will be competing in the relegation playoff tie at the end of the campaign.

After what seemed like months of continually losing games, both Slutsk and Gorodeya have finally woken up in the last two weeks and have started fighting for their top-flight status.

This should be a very tight game but Gorodeya has looked the more impressive recently, so an away win or draw bet might hold more value.

After winning one league game in four months Slutsk has now won two of the last four and given itself a chance to escape the anxiety of the relegation playoff. Last week’s victory away at Energetik-BGU was thanks to two second half Dmitri Sasin goals and gave the club some much-needed hope.

Now this game against Gorodeya has come at exactly the right time. It gives Slutsk the opportunity to not only win some more points but to take them away from a direct rival at the same time. Slutsk will also know that it needs a good result in case there is a need for a tiebreaker at the end of the season.

That’s because Gorodeya won the reverse fixture between these two 3-0 earlier in the year. That gives the visiting team this week a little more security, but the gap in points might be too much to bridge with just two games remaining after this if Gorodeya do not win.

After the surprise victory over Neman Grodno two weeks ago, Gorodeya followed up with a predictable thrashing of Smolevichi and has now won back-to-back fixtures for the first time since April. If manager Oleg Radushko can somehow get his players to make it three in three, his club might have a real chance of staying up after all.

This is a tough one to call. Both sides have belatedly started playing better soccer and picking up points. As even as I think the two teams are, these kinds of fixtures tend to be decided one way or the other – and I feel as though the momentum of Gorodeya’s last two victories will play a part in it picking up three more vital points on Saturday.