This is the 13th round of the Norwegian Eliteserien Championship between Haugesund and Vålerenga, which is scheduled to take place at the Haugesund Stadion. However, The match between this two side would likely not be too difficult for the home team, despite the distance on the rankings, because the host are having a slight better performance compared to the guest, and also playing at home in front of their fans would surely be an added advantage for the host to get a positive result here.
HAUGESUND V VÅLERENGA IF
Both Haugesund and Vålerenga IF are desperately in dire need of this game just to get into a favourable position on the table, which will definitely seal their chance of playing in the Europa League competition next season. Although, the gap between the two teams on the rankings is not really big, in which the home team is currently ranked 5th while the visitors are ranked 8th on the league standings, with just 2 points separating both teams. So if one of them happens to be the losing team tomorrow, then they would most likely have no chance to compete for a ticket to the European Cup.
The home team Haugesund has recently been in good form, with them winning 3 matches in their last 5 matches, drawing once in the process and 1 defeat against the 2nd placed team on, Odds Ballklubb. In the past 5 matches played, Haugesund have managed to score 14 goals, with an average rate of 2.8 goals per game. However, they are also lacking behind defensively, with them having had to concede at least 1 goal in their recent games. They have conceded 7 goals in the last 5 games, averaging 1.4 goals per game. This is the weakness that the visitors Vålerenga IF can fully exploit to hope for a good result.
Meanwhile, the visitors Vålerenga IF have a completely opposite style compared to host Haugesund. Although, they are ranked 8th with only 2 points adrift their opponent, but the guest are currently having an extremely bad series of results, to which they are yet to win a single game in their last 4 matches played, (3 defeats and 1 draw). Vålerenga IF's last victory came at the end of May when they won 5-0 against a mediocre Eidsvold team in the Norwegian National Cup. The last 4 games Vålerenga IF conceded 9 goals, averaging more than 2 goals per game and only with just 4 goals scored.
PRE-MATCH FACT
- Seven of the last eight wins at this venue went to the hosts.
- Valerenga lost their last two matches on the road and conceded a total of eight goals from these two.
- Eight of the last twelve fixtures at this stadium had goals at either end of the pitch.
PREDICTION
The previous matches between Haugesund and Vålerenga IF have always produce a lot of goals, and in the recent 5 matches the two teams met, they both managed to notch up 17 goals between them. Therefore, in addition to the difference in performance, it is likely that this will also be a match with so many scoring chances in which I believe they would surely be converting most of them.
PICK
- Total Goals Over 2.5 @ Odd 1.95
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