Zalaegerszegi TE vs Kazincbarcikai SC Prediction & Betting Tips 18.04.2026

Zalaegerszegi TE host Kazincbarcikai SC in the NB I on Saturday afternoon, and the table says plenty about the gap between the two sides. Zalaegerszeg are up in 4th with 45 points and still have eyes on pushing higher, while Kazincbarcika sit 12th on 17 points and are looking over their shoulder rather than up the division. For the home side, this is the sort of game that can keep a European push alive. For the visitors, it’s about damage limitation and, bluntly, finding a way to stop the bleeding.

There’s a clear narrative edge here too. Zalaegerszeg have spent much of the spring looking like a side with enough control at home to beat the teams around them, and they’ve already beaten Kazincbarcika once this season. Kazincbarcika, on the other hand, keep ending up on the wrong side of heavy scorelines. Their defence has been a problem for months. That won’t be easy to fix in one afternoon.

Zalaegerszegi TE Form & Analysis

Zalaegerszeg arrive here off the back of a flat 3-0 defeat away to MTK Budapest on 11 April, a game in which they struggled to create much of anything and were punished whenever MTK got running. That was a poor day, no doubt. But it doesn’t wipe out the bigger picture. Before that, Nuno Campos’ side had put together a strong little run, beating Kisvárda 2-0 at home and Újpest 2-0 at home, with a 1-1 draw away to Paksi FC sandwiched in between. Add in the 2-1 home win over ETO FC Győr and the cup victory over Soroksár SC, and you’ve got a team that’s been hard to rattle on their own turf.

At home, the record is excellent. Zalaegerszeg are 2nd in the home table with 25 points from 7 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats, and they’ve scored 25 while conceding only 16 at their ground. That balance matters. They’re not just scraping results; they’re generally controlling matches well enough to stay on the front foot. Their overall season numbers back that up too: 43 goals scored, 35 conceded, and a side that’s been better than the middle of the pack in both boxes. They’ve also shown they can go on a run — four wins from five across league and cup before the MTK setback is exactly the sort of form a top-four side wants.

The key thing with Zalaegerszeg is that they don’t need chaos to win games, but they’re perfectly capable of thriving in it if the opponent obliges. With an xG projection of 2.0 for them here, the expectation is that they’ll generate enough chances to score multiple times again. They’ve been first to score in five of the last six meetings with Kazincbarcika too, which fits the way they usually start these games. If they get on top early, it can turn into a long afternoon for the visitors.

Kazincbarcikai SC Form & Analysis

Kazincbarcika come into this on the back of a bruising 3-0 home defeat to Újpest on 11 April, and that loss felt sadly familiar. They’ve now dropped their last three league matches and lost five of their last six in all competitions. The only break in the pattern was a stunning 4-0 away win at Diósgyőri VTK on 13 March, which showed they’re not completely toothless on the road. Still, that was the exception, not the rule. Since then, they’ve been hit for five by Paksi FC away, beaten 3-1 by ETO FC Győr at home, and fallen 3-0 to Debreceni VSC before the Újpest defeat.

The numbers around their season are ugly. Kazincbarcika are 12th with just 17 points from 5 wins, 2 draws and 22 defeats. They’ve scored 27 and conceded 63 overall, which tells you exactly where the problem lies. The away record is a little less catastrophic than the league position suggests, but only just: 3 wins, 1 draw and 10 losses, with 16 goals scored and 31 conceded. Three wins on the road sounds respectable enough until you look at the rest of the picture. They’re still conceding more than two goals a game away from home. That’s not a recipe for staying in matches.

Attila Kuttor’s side do have one angle that keeps them alive in betting terms: they’ve been involved in a flood of goals. Their last eight league matches have all gone over 2.5 goals, and that’s not an accident. They’ll create the odd chance, they’ll usually concede plenty, and the game state tends to get stretched early. The 1.42 xG they posted against Újpest suggests they can at least get into good areas at times, but the 1.73 xGA in that same match shows why they keep losing. They’re open. Too open.

That makes them awkward, not dangerous in a consistent sense. Can they nick one here? Yes, if Zalaegerszeg switch off. But over 90 minutes, they’re usually asking their own defence to survive far too much pressure. The away numbers say they won’t.

Head-to-Head

Zalaegerszeg have had the better of this fixture for a long time, and recent meetings have only reinforced that. They beat Kazincbarcika 1-0 away in January 2026, then followed it up with a commanding 5-0 home win in September 2025. Go back a little further and the pattern still holds: a 2-0 cup win in 2022, a 1-0 league win in 2019, and a pair of draws before that in the NB II era. Zalaegerszeg have won four of the last seven meetings and haven’t lost any of the last six.

The bigger trend is the kind of control they’ve usually had. Kazincbarcika haven’t kept a clean sheet in this fixture across the recent sample, and Zalaegerszeg have often been the first side to land a punch. That matters again here because once the home side get ahead, the visitors have a nasty habit of opening up in search of a response. That usually leads to more chances at both ends. Not ideal for Kazincbarcika. Great for a goals angle.

We Predict: Over 2.5 Goals

We’re backing Over 2.5 Goals at 4/6 for this one. It’s short enough for good reason. Zalaegerszeg have the stronger attack, the better home record and the cleaner overall structure, while Kazincbarcika keep walking into high-scoring defeats. Their last eight league games have all cleared this line, which is a serious trend, and their defence simply doesn’t look sturdy enough to shut this down for 90 minutes.

The projected scoreline of 2-1 to Zalaegerszeg feels about right. Campos’ side should control long stretches and create the better chances, but Kazincbarcika have just enough about them to force at least one goal if the game opens up. A 3-0 home win wouldn’t shock me either, yet the 2-1 call fits the balance here better. If you wanted a smaller-slice alternative, Zalaegerszeg to win and both teams to score has appeal too, but Over 2.5 is the cleaner play.