Salitas vs Royal Prediction: Hosts to punish lackluster Royal

Stadium Issoufou Joseph CONOMBO will host the round 23 Burkina Faso Premier League encounter between Salitas and Royal. Both teams faced defeats in their last league encounter, and in this one, they will hope to take some positivity. Which side returns to winning ways?

Salitas saw an unbeaten run of four games end the previous week against Bobo-Dioulasso, losing 2-1 on the road. In that game, Mamadou Coulibaly scored twice to put Bobo-Dioulasso in a good position to win, and it was only until the 88th minute of the match before Faical Papou Konate could get a consolation goal for Salitas. In the meantime, prior encounters to that defeat saw Salitas go four games without a defeat. In that run, this side defeated ASFA Yennega, Kadiogo, and ASF Dioulasso while they played to a 2-2 draw with Etoile Filante.

In the meantime, the hosts have gone five games without a defeat in their last five league games, winning four. Salitas scored 29 goals this season, but they lacked defense, as they also conceded 23. The hosts have 35 points from 22 league games, positioning them 4th in the league standings.

Royal are off the back of a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Majestic in a home encounter. Royal held their opponent to a draw at halftime in that game, but a 57-minute strike by Aboubacar Traore gave Royal a defeat. In their recent games, Royal failed to win a single one, which has extended to ten. In those matches, Royal lost four games while they drew six.

In recent road games, Royal has three draws and two defeats, in which they scored just one goal while conceding four. In the league this season, Royal have accumulated 19 points from a possible 66, while they are positioned just 3 points ahead of bottom-placed Kozaf. 

Royal won just one in the last five games between these sides, while Salitas were victorious twice. Two games of that encounter ended in draws. In those matches, Royal scored six goals, while Salitas scored eight. 

Royal are not in good form at the moment, and this side needs a lot of improvements, especially in attack, if they want to get their luck. On the other hand, Salitas have shown a lot of solid play in recent games, and despite their last defeat, we still saw a lot of top plays from them. This should be a competitive game, but the visiting Royal have not scored in recent games and could struggle here. Also, while Salitas are the better side, we can expect them to take maximum points in a game that should end 2-0.