Viktoria Plzen host Banik Ostrava in 3rd vs 4th in the Czech First League. Plzen suffered late heartache in Rome on Thursday night as Lazio captain Romagnoli squeezed a header past their GK to put the Italian side ahead on aggregate in their Europa League tie. This defeat by Lazio spells an end to an exhausting run of fixtures for Plzen, who haven't had more than 5 days between games since the return of Czech football at the start of February. Over this spell, Plzen have staged a comeback Europa League win over Ferencvaros, been taken to ET in the Czech cup by lower league Zlin and dropped points against Olomouc and Pardubice.

Banik Ostrava have had to negotiate their last three matches without star player Ewerton, who suffered an ankle injury at the end of February. They have managed these games with relative ease however, thrashing Ceske 4-0, easing by Pardubice in the cup, before dominating a 2-1 comeback win over Mlada Boleslav last weekend, scoring a world class free kick to take the lead before battering down the door for a third.

Banik have benefitted from not having European commitments and only having the Czech cup to play alongside their league matches. Since MW7 in the Europa League in late January, Plzen have had to play 13 matches. Banik have only had to contend with 7 matches over this same timeframe, and will be much the fresher team after Plzen going without a midweek off since the first week of February. Banik have been defending masterfully since the return of Czech football, keeping 5 clean sheets in 7 matches. Only Boleslav and Slavia have breached their defence in this spell, and both only scored once. In their 6 league matches, Banik have scored 1.67 goals per game from an average xG of 1.83. They have conceded just 0.33 goals per game from 0.97 xG against. A fatigued Plzen side will have a tough task breaching this defence on Sunday.

Plzen have had a mixed return after the winter break. They were the sole representatives of Czechia after the league phase of the UEFA competitions, after Sparta, Slavia and Boleslav all got eliminated prior to the knock out rounds. This burden on the squad has resulted in a disappointing loss at Sigma Olomouc, a 0-0 stalemate last time out against a struggling Pardubice and an expected 3-1 loss to league leaders Slavia. In their 6 league games since the return, they have scored 1.5 goals per game from 1.44 xG, conceding 1.17 goals per game from 1.03 xG against on average. They have conceded at least twice against Slavia (1-3), Liberec (3-2) and Sigma Olomouc (1-2) and will be concerned at their leaky defence in these games.

There are a few doubts for rotation players for each side, but Banik will be much the fresher side given Plzen's hectic schedule. In their games against the big three, Banik have taken a 3-1 win against Sparta, lost 1-0 in two matches against Slavia, and had a 3-1 loss against Plzen in the reverse of this fixture. Banik's best player Ewerton remains out but they have coped very well in his absence. Given Banik's robust defence since the return, there looks to be decent value in backing them with a +0.75 handicap against a fatigued Plzen side who have struggled to dominate much lesser teams than Banik over the last few weeks.

Best odds can be found at Dafabet and Bet365.