Kortrijk will be looking to pick up their first win of the 2023-24 Belgian Pro League campaign when they play host to Sint-Truiden at the Guldensporen Stadion on Sunday.
De Kanaries kicked off the season with a hard-fought victory over Standard Liege and will head into the weekend looking to make it two wins from their opening two matches.
Match preview
Kortrijk were denied a dream start to the new Pro League campaign as they suffered a 3-2 defeat against Gent in last Sunday's league curtain-raiser at the Ghelamco Arena.
After taking the lead courtesy of Abdelkahar Kadri's fifth-minute opener, goals from Hugo Cuypers, Gift Emmanuel Orban and an own goal from Aleksandar Radovanovic put Gent two goals up before Felipe Avenatti halved the deficit in the 86th minute.
Edward Still's men will be looking to improve on their forgettable 2022-23 campaign, where they finished 14th in the table, just four points above the relegation zone.
De Kerels lost 19 of their 34 league matches while picking up eight wins and seven draws to collect 31 points — their lowest points tally since also finishing with 31 points in 2017.
While Kortrijk will be looking to get their season up and running this weekend, they face an opposing side who they have failed to defeat in their last three attempts, losing twice and claiming one draw since a 2-0 victory in August 2021.
Sint-Truidense got the new season underway with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Standard Liege when the sides squared off at the Daio Wasabi Stayen Stadium last weekend.
Belgian midfielder Aboubakary Koita came up clutch for the hosts as he scored the only goal of the game in the 86th minute to condemn Carl Hoefkens's men to an opening-day defeat.
However, Sint-Truidense were sent crashing back to earth on Wednesday as they suffered a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Leipzig in a friendly meeting in Germany.
In a one-sided affair at Leipzig's Das Trainingszentrum, Dani Olmo and newcomer Benjamin Sesko scored two goals each to hand the Bundesliga outfit a comfortable victory
Like this weekend's host, Thorsten Fink's men endured an underwhelming 2022-23 campaign as they picked up 42 points from 34 matches to finish 12th in the Pro League table.
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Team News
Kortrijk recently signed forward Isaak Davies on loan from Cardiff City and the 21-year-old could be handed his debut this weekend.
Togo international David Henen was forced off injured just four minutes after his second-half introduction against Gent and is out of contention for De Kerels.
Other than that, Still has a full-strength squad at his disposal and we expect him to name an unchanged XI, meaning that we should see a back four of Martin Wasinski, Joao Silva, Radovanovic and Dion De Neve.
Massimo Bruno and Felipe Avenatti should spearhead Kortrijk's attack once again, while Nayel Mehssatou and Lars Montegnies are expected to retain their roles at the centre of the park.
On the other hand, teenage midfielder Mathias Delorge-Knieper is a major doubt for Sint-Truidense after coming off injured in the league opener against Standard Liege.
Should he fail to shake off the injury, Gamba Osaka loanee Rihito Yamamoto could come into the XI, teaming up with Frederic Ananou, Ryotaro Ito and Junior Bocat in midfield.
Kortrijk possible starting lineup:
Vandenberghe; Wasinski, Silva, Radovanovic, De Neve; Mehssatou, Montegnies, Kadri, Mbayo; Bruno, Avenatti
Sint-Truiden possible starting lineup:
Schmidt; Bauer, Smets, Godeau; Ananou, Delorge, Ito, Bocat; Steuckers, Koita, Kaya
We say: Kortrijk 1-1 Sint-Truiden
Looking at recent results between Kortrijk and Sint-Truidense, we expect a cagey affair at the Guldensporen Stadion this weekend. Both sides are evenly matched on paper and we predict that they will cancel out each other's efforts and settle for a share of the spoils.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joshua Ojele
