Slavia Sparta League Domination | Eden vs Guardiola?

The default position is clear. After the weekend round, there will be 10 duels left until the end of the league. And if Sparta falls in Eden, it will lose 10 points to its rival. Why did Slavia lose so many points? Of course it’s possible, but since she hasn’t lost yet this year, it’s not very likely.

So Sparta has to find a recipe for the derby, how to beat the city rival. And, among other things, also defend his standard situation. Tomáš Chorý, Štěpán Chaloupek, Mojmír Chytil or David Zima. That’s quite a force in the air. On the contrary, use your weapons like Adam Ševínský, Jaroslav Zelený or Patrik Vydra.

But now let’s compare specifically. For example, Slavia took 179 corners in the current season (7.5 per match), which is the most in the league. He also has the highest finishing average (3.2) and goal threat from first contact (1.4). Sparta is second in all these indicators, but reigns supreme in the most important one.

While the seamers have scored directly from the corners four times so far, but added, for example, five pieces from long drives, Letenští have scored ten times. There, they reign among the participants of the highest Czech competition. And it’s not a coincidence, Sparta was also the most successful last year with eleven hits from corners.

Now he relies, among others, on the expert on standards Jack Wilson. He went through a number of British clubs, such as Wolverhampton, Brentford and especially Manchester City, where he worked with the famous Pep Guardiola.

“We pay a lot of attention to standard situations. If I don’t count the training sessions, we also have a lot of videos with Jack. We call him Guardiola, it’s unbelievable how much time he spends on it. It’s our big weapon and we’ll see how we use it in the future,” commented stopper Ševínský after the last match with Baník.

“They were also key under Luboš Loučka or Honza Blažíček. Now we have Jack. I knelt on him a lot because I felt that after the start of the spring we didn’t have that many chances. Now I’m glad that Baník and I struck twice. When you look at the international scene, you see the details of how important the standards are. I have demands and expectations, which Jack knows very well. In this direction, too, they make decisions,” added coach Brian Priske.

It is true for both teams that they can be very effective in getting to the ball at all during the standards. For example, both Sparta and Slavia are below average in the league in terms of the number of “penalties”, but on average they manage to finish once per game, which few manage. In any case, compared to last season with Slavia and Sparta, it is true that they create more corners and similar situations with pressure.

“If we ignore penalties, they are the most effective things in football. We are good at them, but we are focusing a lot on me even now in Marbella,” Slavia coach Jindřich Trpišovský told the fans in January. Let’s just remind you that Milan Kerbr is primarily in charge of this activity in his team.

But now to how both teams are able to defend the set pieces. It probably won’t surprise anyone that, by Czech standards, brilliantly. In practically all respects, they belong to the top of the league.

According to Opta data, Sparta allow opponents fewer corners per match (2.9 vs. 4.3), direct or penalty free kicks. They also face only one end on average, while this value is only slightly higher for Slavia (1.4). Sparta got two goals and Slavia only one.

All in all, the differences between the manchafts are generally very subtle. In general, both Czech giants are still very strong in the standards, that they are aware of their importance. And while Trpišovský’s numbers are similar to the previous year’s numbers, we can see quite a solid improvement in Sparta despite the hesitation in the opening rounds.

So what will the reality be on Sunday? Will the derby be decided by, for example, a corner, a good signal or a great free kick?