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Standard Liege will host Gent on Friday night at the Maurice Dufrasne in the opening game of the new Jupiler Pro League campaign.
The Reds endured a highly underwhelming campaign last season. as they had their lowest league finish in the 21st century. They picked up just 36 points from 46 games and ended the season in 14th place, winning just three league games in 2022.
Liege's poor showing last season prompted the dismissal of manager Luka Elsner, with former Celtic boss Ronny Deila replacing him at the helm. They struggled to perform during the preseason but will hope to kick off their campaign on a positive note.
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Gent, meanwhile, enjoyed a solid campaign which culminated in their Belgian Cup triumph after beating Anderlecht on penalties in the final. They finished fifth in the league table with 62 points from 34 games, their highest points tally in the regular season in over two decades.
The visitors were beaten 1-0 by Club Brugge in the Belgian Super Cup last weekend and will look to shake that off when they play on Friday.
Standard Liege vs Gent Head-to-Head
Historically, there have been 65 meetings between Liege and Gent. The hosts have won 23 of those games, while the visitors have won 33 times. There have been nine draws between the two teams. The two teams last faced off in a league clash back in February, which the Buffalos won 1-0.
Standard Liege Form Guide (All Competitions): D-L-L-L-L
Gent Form Guide (All Competitions): L-D-W-L-W
Standard Liege vs Gent Team News
Standard Liege
The hosts will head into the new season with a clean bill of health. Niels Nkounkou has returned to Everton on completion of his loan spell, meaning the 19-year-old Alexandro Calut will have a free rein at left-back in the foreseeable future.
Injured: None.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.
Unavailable: None.
Gent
Manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck has no selection concerns ahead of the weekend opener and should stick with the XI that started the Super Cup.
Injured: None.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.
Unavailable: None.
Standard Liege vs Gent Predicted XIs
Standard Liege (4-3-3): Laurent Henkinet; Giles Dewaele, Nathan Ngoy, Moussa Sissako, Alexandro Calut; Nicolas Raskin, Selim Amallah, Gojko Cimirot; Aron Donnum, Denis Dragus, Renaud Emond.
Gent (3-5-2): Davy Roef; Andreas Hanche-Olsen, Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui, Joseph Okumu; Matisse Samoise, Alessio Castro-Montes, Andrew Hjulsager, Sven Kums, Nurio Fortuna; Hugo Cuypers, Tarik Tissoudali.
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Standard Liege vs Gent Prediction
Liege closed out the previous season with just one win from their final five games. They went winless in their three preseason outings, losing two of those games and could struggle here.
Gent, meanwhile, picked up four wins from their final five games last season. Although the visitors had mixed results in the off-season, they have a good record in this fixture of late and should come out on top here.
Prediction: Standard Liege 0-1 Gent.
