Football – Sweden – Allsvenskan
Saturday 26th July 2014 – Kickoff: 1600hrs
Swedish Allsvenskan league leaders Malmo will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to nine matches when they entertain visitors Kalmar at the Swedbank Stadion on Saturday afternoon.
Malmo are currently enjoying a six point cushion over second placed AIK Stockholm and they’ve lost just once so far this season out of a total of 15 matches. The host’s progress has been hampered a little with recent draws against AIK 2-2, a 1-1 draw with Brommapojkarna away and last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Kalmar, again away from home.
This weekend they return the favour and host Kalmar, and Malmo currently hold a good home record of 4-2-1 15/7 which includes three clean sheets. What is perhaps more impressive though is Malmo’s goalscoring abilities as they’ve failed to score just once in their last 28 home matches which is a staggering statistic.
Onto the visitors Kalmar now, and the fourth placed team have lost twice in their last six which isn’t all that bad but when you drill down a little deeper, you find that these two recent defeats (to Hacken 1-4 away and 0-3 away at AIK Stockholm) who both happen to be placed in the top three of the Allsvenskan.
In fact, Kalmar have failed to win in all three of their matches away at top half opposition as they could only manage a point at 7th placed Djurgarden in a recent 0-0 draw. Kalmar’s overall away record stands at 3-2-2 9/10, but a meagre 0-1-2 1/7 against top half teams which may indicate they are still a little way off from challenging the top three clubs.
Malmo are top of the division for a reason and that is that they are very consistent on home turf – despite Kalmar holding fourth place, the gulf between these two should be evident here tonight so I’ll back the hosts to secure the points in what could be a 2-1 win.
Pick: Malmo straight win @ 1.64 Pinnacle
