Who Can Challenge Ferencváros? Nemzeti Bajnokság I Final Stretch Predictions

With around a third of the season left to play, the nearest challenger to Ferencváros in the title race are Paks, but their sliding form through March put them on the back foot in the NB 1 title.

When action resumes after the March international break, pre-match football predictions will look forward to a potentially title-deciding fixture between the top two on April 7th. But can Paks challenge Ferencváros?

The Season So Far – Ferencváros

Things went pretty well for the reigning champions in the first third of the season, winning eight of their opening ten matches, with just the one surprise home slip-up against Puskas. But from the start of November through early December, their title challenge became derailed.

Ferencváros collapsed to a W1 D2 L3 record in a spell of six matches. The third of those defeats happened on the road at Paks, which made the title race extremely fascinating. But nothing in football is permanent, and things were about to change for Ferencváros.

After losing to Paks, that seemed to stir the beast in Ferencváros who stormed their way to a seven-match winning streak as a response. That was enough to get them back to the summit at the international break.

The Season So Far – Paks

If Paks fail to break the title reign of Ferencváros this season, they will be kicking themselves. There have been times during the season when they really could have pushed on towards what would be their first Nemzeti Bajnokság I crown.

Their victory over Ferencváros in mid-December for example, was followed by a heavy away loss at MOL Fehervar, which is reflective of an issue that has been plaguing Paks this season.

Just when they seem to be getting up a head of steam, they crucially let points slip away through their hands. They had a three-match winning stream going in early December and then lost. In February, they had another three-match winning streak and then lost.

In early March Paks had won back-to-back matches on the road, but then in their next match, back on home soil, they dropped two points against Debrecen. There are a lot of small margins that they haven’t quite been able to close.

The Run In

But still, despite only two wins in five matches before the international break, Paks are only two points adrift of leaders Ferencváros. If they could find some extended winning form at some point in the final stretch, plus take three points off their title rivals when they meet in early April, they are still in the hunt.

Of their eight remaining league fixtures, Paks have an even split of four at home and four on the road. Unfortunately for them, two of those remaining away games are against top-four sides, and their record so far this season at top-six sides is played three, lost three.

So Ferencváros look to have the edge, and they do still hold a game in hand over Paks as well, which is why they are huge odds-on favourites in the betting market. Ferencváros have a proven goalscoring edge over the rest of the least as well, averaging 2.58 goals per game.

The reigning champions will play five of their remaining nine for the season at home and while they also have to play three current top-six teams (including Paks) they are all home fixtures as well, which should give them a significant advantage.

Top Four Finish

Paks are well on course to land a top-four finish this season, and they are likely to be joined by MOL Fehervar who are comfortably positioned in third spot, but only on goal difference above Debrecen.

But the race behind them for the final spot in the top four is wide open to everyone, right down to the eighth-placed Kecskemeti TE. The ones to watch in the Top 4 race, could be Diosgyor VTK who were coming into great form before.

At the foot of the table, Kisvárda and Mezőkövesd are well adrift. It’s unlikely that either of them are going to do enough in the remaining seven matches to haul themselves to safety.