Goeteborg – Kalmar

The home team will make a long-awaited success in the upcoming match

On Sunday, Gothenburg will host a battle of old-timers in the elite Swedish championship. Each of the rivals has been playing in the Allsvenskan for at least twenty years and definitely knows each other well. The other thing is that the home team is looking so bad for their fans right now. After six years of languishing in the middle of the standings, Gothenburg are showing signs of likely relegation to Superettan. Sixteen rounds have led the Blue and Whites to ten points, which is second from bottom in the championship after Varberg. On the one hand, nothing is yet lost for the 2-time UEFA Cup winner and 18-time Swedish champions, as only four points separate them from the relegation places. On the other hand, Gothenburg's players urgently need to get their heads together. To implement measures to save the club in the Allsvenskan, the management appointed Jens Ascough as head coach on 7 June. The choice is rather strange, as the Danish coach a few days prior to his appointment in Gothenburg had secured the relegation of local Horsens from the main Danish championship. By historical standards Kalmar is a rather mediocre club for the Scandinavian country. Only once he became champion, but in the Allsvenskan holds for the twentieth consecutive season. In 2019 and 2020, the Red Brothers were on the verge of relegation from the elite division, finishing in fourteenth place at the end of the championships and proving their right to play in the Allsvenskan in the knockout rounds with the third Superettan clubs. The past two seasons have stabilised Kalmar as a team in the top half of the standings, and they are currently sixth. Gothenburg under the new head coach has already played five official games. The club has lost less often, but they haven't learnt how to win yet, losing twice and drawing three times under Askou. At the same time, Kalmar's situation has deteriorated badly in July. The guests of the upcoming meeting in five official matches of the month lost three times, and beat only the worst club in the division in their home walls. Kalmar played a Conference League match on Thursday, which will prevent them from preparing for the game in Gothenburg. Let's bet on the long-awaited success of the home team.