Lokomotiva vs Dinamo Zagreb Prediction: Can the city rival spoil the fun in Dinamo?

Dinamo will play one of the key matches in the fight for the title today from 18:00 in Kranjceviceva against Lokomotiva in the 31st round of the SuperSport HNL. Six rounds before the end, Dinamo have two points less than the leading Rijeka, the only competitor for the title. Lokomotiva are their first of three consecutive visits. Dinamo opens the series against the only club against whom they lost in the HNL this year, 3:0 at Maksimir. Even after that, Lokomotiva took points from them with a score of 2:2 in this stadium. 

Form: WDLDW

Lokomotiva has been playing well all season. A young, starting team, relieved in terms of expectations. They put pressure on themselves with those good results and a series of invincibility, because that's how they entered the fight for Europe, fourth place with Osijek. Lokomotiva proved that it plays with everyone without respect. An uncertain, demanding match awaits us. Lokomotiva are undefeated in the last 7 matches in the league, they are in 5th place with 44 points, only a point behind 4th placed Osijek. Lokomotiva are full of motives because Osijek lost against Istra yesterday and Silvio Cabraja's players have a chance to overtake Osijek in fourth place, which leads to Europe. The hosts will be weakened by not playing the suspended Duja Cop, who scored three goals against Dinamo in the last two matches, and the hosts also have minor problems with injuries.

Form: WWWWW

Dinamo’s manager Jakirovic is not without problems either, and the biggest issue is the absence of Mauro Perkovic, the standard defender who received his third yellow card against Varazdin. His absence will require some rotations in the back line, which will again be of three defenders. Dinamo will once again play in a 3-5-2 system, with two attackers, which is much more dangerous than when they are playing 4-2-3-1. Jakirovic said after Varazdin that he will play like this until the end of the season and there is no reason for him to change anything. Dinamo are in excellent form in domestic competitions, where they suffered their last defeat at the opening of the half-season against Lokomotiva (0:3). After that, Dinamo went 14 games without defeat, with a record of 12-2-0 and a goal difference of 30-7.

Lokomotiva proved to be a tough opponent for Dinamo in the last games. In the last ten HNL matches between each other, Dinamo won in only half of the games, the ratio is 5-3-2 in favor of Dinamo. This will be the fourth meeting between these two clubs this season. Dinamo were better in the first game, when they won with goals in stoppage time, while Lokomotiva won 0:3 in the second game, and then snatched more points from Dinamo in a 2:2 draw. In this match Dinamo must go for a win and I think that they will manage to win against their local rival and remain close to Rijeka in the table.