GAIS – Haecken

The hosts will win in the Gothenburg derby

If one of the central events of the matchday in Germany will be the Hamburg derby, then the next round of Allsvenskan will be highlighted by the Gothenburg derby. Matches between local teams, as the current season shows, can be quite unpredictable. GAIS is a unique project of Fredrik Holmberg, who took over the club in November 2021 and won Sweden's third division with them the very next year. The following year, GAIS finished second in Superettan, allowing them to directly advance to the country’s elite division. The first year in Allsvenskan brought Holmberg’s team a final sixth place, and now GAIS is determined to break into the European cup zone. Häcken became the champion of Sweden for the first time in history in 2022. Such success was made possible thanks to the work with the club of legendary Norwegian Per-Mathias Høgmo. However, each subsequent season has seen the 'wasps' drop one position lower than the previous one. Last year Häcken finished eighth and now they have prospects of landing even lower. Bookmakers have made the home team the favourites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.76 on their victory. GAIS and Häcken played their first encounter of the current Allsvenskan season exactly two months ago at the Bravida Stadium. Häcken conceded two goals by the sixteenth minute, and by the middle of the second half, they were down 0-3. Subsequently, the 'wasps' only managed to score a consolation goal - 1-3. The shot count by the final whistle was recorded at 22:3 in favour of the match winner, with shots on target at 7:1. This victory marked GAIS's third consecutive win in head-to-head encounters with Häcken. That is, since the home team of the upcoming match entered Allsvenskan, they have not lost a single point in matches against the 'wasps'. Another advantage GAIS has over their opponent ahead of the Sunday match is the ability to prepare calmly for each subsequent championship match. This contrasts with Häcken, who have had to compete on two football fronts for the last two months - in the qualification rounds of European tournaments and in the national league. Just on Friday, the 'wasps' returned from Romania, where they lost the second leg against CFR Cluj 0-1 after a spectacular home victory of 7-2. Let’s bet that the Häcken players won't be able to adjust to such a highly motivated and strong opponent.