Football – Norway – Adeccoligaen
Sunday 27th July 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
The second tier of the Norwegian Adeccoligaen is where my next pick is situated with league leaders Sandefjord taking on mid-table Nest-Sotra at their komplett.no Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Sandefjord sit atop the second tier with a two point lead over second placed Tromso, and the hosts will be looking to extend the deficit to five points with a win here today, particularly given the fact they’re unbeaten in their last fourteen league matches.
Indeed, Sandefjord have lost just once so far this season and that was a narrow 0-1 loss to fifth placed Fredrikstad in their opening home match of the season. Since then, they’ve put together a solid unbeaten run with an overall home record of 5-2-1 9/3 which includes five clean sheets so far from their eight matches on home turf.
Visitors Nest-Sotra have won just the once in their last five league matches which was a 2-0 home win over fellow mid-table dwellers Strommen. But recent away defeats at Kristiansund 1-2 and Bryne 1-3 along with a 0-1 loss at home to Honefoss in their last match has meant that Nest-Sotra remain in the middle of the division.
It’s also one win from their last five on the road as well which was gained in a 5-2 win at 7th placed Hodd while their overall away record stands at 3-1-4 13/14, and they’ve conceded the highest number of goals away from home in the top half of the Adeccoligaen.
Nest-Sotra have kept just one clean sheet on their travels so far this season, and this record looks set to continue at Sandefjord this afternoon.
Sandefjord have been halted recently with two draws but with Nest-Sotra’s consistent conceding at the back away from home, I’ll back the hosts to win this one and cover the -1 handicap line as well in what could be a 2-0 win for the home side.
Pick: Sandefjord AH-1 @ 1.72 Pinnacle
