Hougang United vs Lion City Prediction: End of the road for the defending champions

Hougang United will lock horns against Lion City in the final game of the group at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Saturday. The defending champions will strive for their first victory over Lion City in nine games.

The Tigers bounced back from their opening-day defeat against Tanjong Pagar to outmuscled Balestier Central. The five-goal thriller ended in favor of the defending champions as they left it late against a resilient Balestier side. With two wins in fifteen matches, the Tigers head into this tournament after wrapping up the league in 6th place.

Hougang United have scored the second-fewest goals in the SPL and conceded the fourth-most goals (57).

The Tigers are one of the worst teams in the division despite finishing 6th on the log, and we are not sure they’ll go far in this tournament.

The Sailors began their journey with a commanding display against Balestier Central. Diego Lopes and Richairo Zivkovic scored three times, while Adam Swandi once found the back of the net to humiliate Balestier Central. More recently, they took advantage of their opponents' two red cards to secure a (4-1) victory.

After a disappointing season, which saw them lose the SPL title to Albirex Niigata for the second consecutive season, the Sailors will be out to console their fans by winning this tournament.

They failed to make it out of the group phase last season, but they are expected to go far this campaign.

Lion City have won twelve, while Hougang United have recorded four wins and four games ending in a deadlock over their previous twenty meetings. Lion City head here with ten players on international duty, and we think fatigue might just set in here for them. At the same time, Hougang march here with just two players on international obligation. Unfortunately, Hougang won’t be able to defend their title here as Lion City will likely dominate this encounter and probably get a win before the break.

We expect the visitors to score in both halves 1.69.

This game might produce more than a goal before the break for 1.98.

Good luck!