Dinamo Zagreb vs Lokomotiva Zagreb Prediction: Difficult times for both Zagreb’s teams

Dinamo and Lokomotiva will play a match of the eighth round of the SuperSport HNL on Saturday at 21:00 at Maksimir. It will be the first meeting in the second term of coach Nenad Bjelica, who succeeded the sacked Sergej Jakirovic on the bench of Dinamo. Dinamo are in crisis after bad results consecutively with Rijeka (1:1) and losing to Hajduk (0:1) and Slaven Belupo (4:1) in the domestic championship and suffering a disaster against Bayern (9:2) in the Champions League. In the 1/16 finals of the Croatian Cup, SuperSport defeated the Istrian lower league team Banjole (1:3), but that was expected. They enter this city derby against Lokomotiva in third place with 13 points, four less than Rijeka and Hajduk. Lokomotiva, coached by Silvijo Cabraja, are in penultimate place with only five points 

Form: WLLLL

Dinamo currently holds third place with 13 points, four less than leaders Rijeka and Hajduk. The Blues are on a run of two consecutive league defeats and three games without a win, which means they will be looking to end the negative streak. Although Dinamo advanced to the round of 16 of the Cup during the week with a victory over the fourth-division team, the performance was not convincing. Despite the crisis of results, but also of the game, Dinamo enters this match as the favorite, which has proven to be a challenging position in recent weeks. Bjelica stated at the first press conference that Dinamo's squad is ideal for the 4-3-3 system, and he wants the players to run the most of all in the league. He will not be able to count on the injured players, defenders Kevin Theophile-Catherine, Samy Mmaee, Dina Peric, and Mauro Perkovic. 

Form: LWWLL

Lokomotiva are not doing very well this season, entering this match as the penultimate team in the championship with only five points from seven games, with five goals scored and ten goals conceded. When they last stepped onto the pitch of Dinamo's stadium in January of this year, they scored three goals and won 3:0. Lokomotiva arrives with the strongest lineup, if we do not count Mersinaj, Canjuga, and Krivak, who have been absent for a long time. For some time now, they have been playing well as a guest against Dinamo, even better than at home, because in the last championship they not only won 3:0, but in the match before that, despite losing 2:1 with two goals in stoppage time, they left a very positive impression, and in the spring of 2023, they were eliminated in the Cup only in extra time. In the last three consecutive games with Dinamo, Lokomotiva were the first to score a goal away from home.

In the last ten matches against Lokos, Dinamo have six wins, three draws, and one defeat, with a goal difference of 15:12. At Maksimir, Dinamo are even more convincing with eight wins, one draw, and one loss, and a goal difference of 20:7. interestingly, Lokomotiva scored all seven goals in the last four away games, including last season's 3:0 victory in which Duje Cop scored a hat-trick. The truth is that both teams are playing below their capacity, and this match is very important for each of them. I expect to see a different Dinamo, more aggressive and offensive-oriented even though they have an important match in the Champions League next week. Lokomotiva are struggling and it was expected considering how many players left the team. I expect Dinamo to finally win a match with many goals most of which in the visitor's net.