With neither team having been totally convincing at the start of the new NPFL season, the Sunshine Stars take on the Lobi Stars hoping to close the gap between them in the standings. Just one win from their opening three matches means that the hosts are languishing in the bottom half of the table, while the visitors have recovered well from a defeat away from home in gameweek 1. Ahead of kick-off at the Akure Township Stadium on Wednesday, we take a closer look at the two teams, before delivering our expert betting tip.
The Sunshine Stars won just one of their final five matches last season to eventually finish 9th in the Nigerian Professional Football League standings. They kicked off the 20/21 campaign with a narrow defeat on the road at Jigawa Golden Stars, before bouncing back to defeat Ifeanyi Uba 1-0. However, the Stars revival didn’t last long, with Kabiru Dogo’s men having been beaten away at MFM over the weekend.
A 3rd place finish in the 2019 season would have given the Lobi Stars confidence of mounting a title challenge in 20/21. However, their gameweek 1 defeat against Ifeanyi Uba demonstrated that the Ortom Boys still have some way to go. The team has recovered well from the defeat though, having recorded back to back defeats against MFM and Warri Wolves. A goal from Ossy Martins in the opening minute against the Wolves helped Lobi on their way to a 3-0 success, a result which leaves them in fourth spot.
Following their defeat at MFM, coach Dogo could well bring in some fresh faces against Lobi Stars. David Ariyo is likely to continue his role as stand-in captain, however Waheed Adebayo, Yusuf Sadeeq and Kolade Adeniji are all at risk of missing out, having missed good chances to score an equaliser against MFM.
Lobi midfielder Samuel Mathias will likely be a threat for the visitors, with the Nigerian international having got himself on the scoresheet in the recent win over Warri Wolves. Following on from such a strong performance, it could well be that Lobi lineup with the same starting Xi.
The Lobi Stars have won four of their last six matches against the Sunshine Stars, giving them a win percentage of 67%. Meanwhile, having scored 13 goals from such outings, the team averages 1.18 goals per game. The duo last met in January 2020, when Lobi Stars ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. However, it is worth noting that when Sunshine Stars were the home team in April 2019, they recorded a convincing 3-0 win.
Despite having made a relatively disappointing start to the season, their home advantage means that it is Sunshine Stars who are the favourites to pick up all three points against Lobi Stars this week. The hosts are available to back at odds of 1.80 at Bet9ja, with the same bookmaker pricing their opponents at 4.35. Elsewhere, with the Sunshine Stars having not conceded more than one goal in a game so far this season, betting on there being under 2.5 goals on Wednesday is likely to be another popular market, especially at odds of 1.35.
Having taken factors including form, player availability and home advantage into account, our top betting tip for the NPFL clash between Sunshine Stars FC and Lobi Stars FC is to back the draw. While this is always risky when it comes to football, odds of 2.88 from Bet365 are well worth taking advantage of. With neither team having hit top form so far this season, a point could well be seen as a decent result by both.
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