Neman and Energetik-BGU will both be looking to return to winning ways in the Belarusian Premier League when they face off at Neman Stadium on Friday.
Three games without a victory has left Neman one place above the relegation zone, while Energetik have lost back-to-back matches to slip down to fifth.
Match preview
© Reuters
Energetik started the season in impressive style with successive wins over BATE, Brest and Minsk, scoring six goals and conceding just once.
Vladimir Belyavskiy's men have faded since then, however, with 2-0 and 1-0 defeats to Torpedo-BelAZ and Gorodeya respectively going a long way to killing off their momentum.
Fifth place after five games is not a bad position for Energetik to find themselves in, though, having finished the 2019 season in 12th place, three points above the dropzone.
Neman ended the last campaign two places and three points better off, but they have made a slow start to the new season and are hovering right above the bottom two.
The Grodno-based outfit have won just one of their first five games - 2-0 against Vitebsk on March 29 - and were well beaten by Dinamo Minsk last time out.
Neman have been a part of the Belarusian top flight since 1992 and finished as runners-up in 2002, but their best chance of success since then has come in the domestic cup.
Energetik are less established than their opponents, with last term their first back in the big time after 13 years bouncing around the second and third tiers.
The past will count for little when the sides face off at Neman Stadium, where the hosts are unbeaten in five league matches stretching back to last season.
The visitors have a pretty decent away record, meanwhile, losing just two of their last seven on the road, albeit with one of those defeats coming last time out at Torpedo.
Energetik will know that the pressure is on to stop their slump, though not since August 2017 have they lost three matches in a row.
Neman form: LWDDL
Energetik-BGU form: WWWLL
Head To Head
The sides played out a 1-1 draw in Grodno when they last faced off five months ago, Danijel Stojkovic cancelling out David Tweh's opener.
Neman were 4-2 winners in last season's reverse fixture and have lost just one of the last eight encounters over the last 17 years.
We say: Neman 1-1 Energetik-BGU
Neman have a good record against Energetik, but they head into this game four points worse off than their opponents. Both teams are in need of victory to return to winning ways, though we are backing this one to finish all square.
