Malmoe – Elfsborg

At least one goal will be scored already in the first half on the field of the Swedish champion

The Allvenskan regular season kicked off last week. The clubs of the elite Swedish division had the opportunity to prove themselves and show what they have been doing in preparation for the new championship. The start of Malmö and Elfsborg can be called successful but to slightly different degrees. The reigning champion played in the centre meeting of the first round in Stockholm at the Jurgården field. There, the sky-blues looked worse than their capital city rivals, but managed to score the only goal of the match at the end of the first half. Elfsborg's success was not in winning the game, but in avoiding defeat. "Yellow" lost the first half of the home game with Mjölby with the score 0:2, but managed to come back in the second half - 2:2. The confrontation between Malmo and Elfsborg has escalated quite a bit since the season before last. Recall that then the team from Buros had the opportunity to become champion a round before the season, but lost points in a meeting with an outsider, and in the last round lost the championship match it was Malmo. Bookmakers have identified the home team as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.70 on their victory. Last season Malmo won quite easily. "Sky Blue" defended the title a few rounds before the finish. The cup campaign at the beginning of this year was also successful for the club. Malmö had no problems in the group stage of the Swedish Cup, after which they defeated Elfsborg and Gothenburg in extra time in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. The sky-blues will face Hecken for the title in May's final. The team last lost in the Europa League to Twente in the second half of January, after which they played seven official matches without defeat. Elfsborg lost a lot of class last season. From a second division club, the "yellow" became a mid-table league side. After reaching the play-offs in the Swedish Cup, Elfsborg lost to Malmo. In that meeting, the champion had territorial advantage throughout the match and threatened the goal of the team from Buros more often, but scored only in the second half. We bet that in the second head-to-head meeting between the clubs this year, events will start to develop rapidly - already in the first half.