Malmö FF - AIK, Swedish Allsvenskan
2004-05-06 19.00 CET
Pick: Malmö
Stake: 4%
Odds: 1,55
Final reason for bet
· Malmö has a stronger squad.
· Malmö has won their first two home matches.
· AIK still has important players missing.
· AIK is a club in a minor crisis, both on and of the pitch.
General comment about the game
This Thursday evening the Swedish Allsvenskan continues with a game between Malmö FF and AIK. Both these teams were involved in our Monday picks. Unfortunately Malmö could not make the final goal against Trelleborg and give us a good start of the week but it was nice too see that Halmstad outplayed a weak AIK which made us go nearly even on the day. As we have written earlier on Malmö has bought in a couple of top players this year and anything else but a gold will be a major disappointment for the club and the city. At home Malmö plays in front of the biggest regular crowd in Allsvenskan; so far over 24.000 people and of course this is a boost for them. Last game away against Trelleborg was disappointing for Malmö since they could not score the winning goal despite a number of good chances in second half. Trelleborg started the game in an inspiring way and this made the Malmö coach Tom Prahl change his formation from regular 3-5-2 to 4-4-2. It is hard to say if it was this manoeuvre that finally got Malmö into the game. One thing was clear though; Malmö was by far the better team in the second half and it was just bad luck for the day that prevented them from scoring the winner. Manager Prahl was obviously disappointed after the game; he thought that they played bad the first hour (as they also did in their previous match against Göteborg although winning) but the final 30 minutes were pretty good. Significant was that the best player on the field was Trelleborg’s goal keeper Fredrik Persson who made some brilliant saves. Malmö missed creative midfielder Tobias Grahn in the game due to suspension but he will be back for tonight’s game. Unfortunately wing back Jon Inge Höiland is suspended and also midfielder Jon Jönsson is out with the injury he sustained against Trelleborg. Since Höiland is missing it is very likely that Malmö will continue to play 4-4-2.
As we wrote in the last preview about AIK the club is in all kind of crisis. The injury situation is bad; they have changed coach and they seem to lack the ability of keeping their play up. As we expected in the game against Halmstad the performance from AIK was bad, and listening to different experts after the game everybody except AIK’s coach Patrick Englund shared the same view; AIK did not perform well. It will be interesting too see what ideas Englund want to test in this team; so far it does not look promising if you like AIK. OK, they fought harder than before in last game but two shots on goal and the final result nearer 0-3 or even 0-4 than 1-2 it is very hard too see any brighter light. Wonder what Englund saw that no one else saw! Unfortunately the player situation is still bad although they have forward Andreas Eriksson available again. Fellow strikers Arash Talebinajed, Daniel Hoch and Andreas Andersson are still unavailable as is midfielder Stefan Ishizaki who is on loan until end of June. Defender Per Nilsson is still out with a cold, while midfielders Mats Rubarth and Martin Åslund had some minor injuries yesterday that prevented them to fully take part of the training but both are expected to start in the game tonight. One big problem for AIK is that they lack strength and ability upfront. Their best strikers is injured which means that they have to trust their wingers Rubarth and Moström to deliver the necessary support. However, the question is who will be the man to score? Göran Marklund seems to weigh too little as a central striker and fit again Andreas Eriksson is not used to that role but is likely to get it anyway.
Malmö FF against a weak AIK team without harmony and with important players missing should be a very sure home victory. There is only one thing that worries us and that is that AIK very seldom plays as big underdogs. This is a new situation for them and if they are wise enough and battle well they may disturb Malmö. But, we do not believe that they have that determination and willingness so we go for a high stake, 4%, on Malmö.
Recent games for home team
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2004-05-03 |
Trelleborg-Malmö |
1-1 |
|
2004-04-24 |
Malmö-Göteborg |
1-0 |
|
2004-04-19 |
Elfsborg-Malmö |
1-5 |
|
2004-04-09 |
Malmö-Örebro |
5-1 |
|
2004-04-06 |
Hammarby-Malmö |
0-0 |
Recent games for away team
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2004-05-03 |
AIK-Halmstad |
0-2 |
|
2004-04-22 |
Örgryte-AIK |
1-1 |
|
2004-04-18 |
AIK-Trelleborg |
0-0 |
|
2004-04-13 |
Djurgården-AIK |
3-1 |
|
2004-04-04 |
AIK-Sundsvall |
1-0 |
Home table
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Malmö |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6-1 |
6 |
Away table
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AIK |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2-4 |
1 |
Links for this game
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// SportsObserver 040506
