Elfsborg-Viborg
Royal league are well-known for coaches letting some of their second best players to get on the pitch, this one will not be any different. The funny thing is that is it not because of tactics, but heavy injury losses on both teams...
Elfsborg:
Will miss Jan Jönsson, Mathias Svensson and Joakim Sjøhage for this one. None of them played in last match though. They will most likely field the same team which sat their feet on the pitch in Denmark playing Viborg a week ago, ended 2-2. With one new name though, Jari Ilola is ready for football again. Don`t know much about him, but reports mention that he made a fresh impact in the team early in the season. Denni Avdic, a youngster striker, played his first match from the start last, scored one goal, will probably get a new chance on top. He is rated a promising striker in Sweden, being only 18 years old. Stil they have quality amongst their starters, naming Anders Svensson, Daniel Alexandersson and Samuel Holmen.
Viborg:
Fought in a draw in the last minutes away against AIK, ended 1-1. Since then they have lost 3 players! Mikkel Rask had to go off late because of injury, centre-back Jesper Andersen had to leave the game very early when suspected he had broken his arm. The diagnosis not set yet, but it looks that he will be back soon, but this match will come too early for him. Thomas Poulsen is struggling with a muscle injury and will not play. The most intersting thing is anyways that Viborg travelled to Sweden, playing AIK on thursday and now Elfsborg, they brought with them 8 non EU-players in a total squad of 19, the tournament allowing only 3 in the squad for every match. With the three mentioned out, and the rule about non-EU players, you can all do the math... Tomorrow they have only 11 players avaliable! Upon that Steffen Højer and Christian Flindt-Bjerg are not fit for playing 90 minutes. Also winger Christopher Paulsen has knee-problems because of playing on hard turf, Lots of teams in the north are converting to artificial grass instead of natural grass because of the somewhat harsh climate up north.
Viborg also have a very tired squad, playing 4 matches since 23rd of november, this is the last of them. The thursday match giving them only two days of rest for this one. They have played rather well, considering the expectations, in royal league this year notching 2 points in three games, the first against Elfsborg at home being the better team, and away against AIK. They worked very hard that match coming back equalising late in the game. Tomorrows match are way too early for them because of tiredness and heavy squad problems. When coach Anders Linderoth was asked if they would be calling in players who were left at home for the trip, he stated that they didn`t have none who were avaliable, a comment which put some lights on the very bad situation Viborg are in.
Elfsborg on the other side have had a week off, training well. For them it is a very important match in this league, it also is for Viborg, but the home team can make a break for themselves for the later parts of this tournament:
| 1 | Vålerenga | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4-2 | 7 |
| 2 | IF Elfsborg | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7-4 | 4 |
| 3 | Viborg FF | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3-4 | 2 |
| 4 | AIK | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2-6 | 2 |
Haven`t seen the actual squads and starting line-ups, but I believe for this I don`t need it. A clear home win for me, and most likely with big numbers...
My bets:
Elfsborg, straight win,
1.72 @betfair
Elfsborg HT/FT,
2.66 @betfair
Elfsborg (-1),
2.70 @bet365, a very good offer in my opinion!