Falkenberg vs Hammarby
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Today’s free tip is in the Swedish Allsvenskan encounter between Falkenberg and Hammarby.
Falkenberg find themselves locked in a battle to avoid relegation. Whether they can stay up or not is going to be a bit of a tightrope walk, to be honest. As far as I am concerned, the bottom four teams at the present time are the ones that will be battling to stay up come the end of the season. Two will automatically be relegated, and one will be involved in a play-off with the third-placed team in the Superettan. I think it’s more the luck of the draw as to whether Falkenberg are the lucky ones or not. I really don’t see Kalmar FF or Helsingborg getting roped into this mess, even though Larsson is messing up his beloved Helsingborg and Kalmar FF lost El-Kabir. Both have good players that can show up when necessary. Falkenberg and the other three are all in the same boat.
Of late, Falkenberg have shown a lot of balls though – kudos to them for that. They’ve actively engaged teams, stayed focused, and took their chances. They’ve picked up some decent results against IFK Goteborg and Helsingborg, not to mention rock-bottom GIF Sundsvall in the second instalment of a relegation six-pointer. They’re getting quite a lot right toward the business end of the season, which has got to be encouraging for them. I certainly don’t think there can’t be any questions as to whether Falkenberg are good enough mentally to survive the drop because they look driven and confident to me.
However, whether they have the quality or not is another matter. Nigerian attacker Chibuike is the best they’ve got but it’s been some years since his days of excellence at Rosenborg BK. He used to win me a lot of money back then, constantly threatening to counter-attack teams that attacked the Norwegian heavyweights. He’s not in particularly great condition nowadays but as I said, he’s the best Falkenberg have got. Their other mainstays are mostly from the division below so quality really is a big, big issue for tonight’s hosts. As a unit, they operate at a higher level than they do as individuals but even that will only take them so far. I mean, if you analyse their home form, you could be forgiven for drawing incorrect conclusions due to the mixed nature of it. Personally, I find it to be very logical. They’ve beaten the weakest teams, drawn with the decent teams, and been hammered by the best teams. I suspect tonight’s game will follow the same trend.
Hammarby arrive in Falkenberg knowing that all three of their title rivals – BK Hacken Goteborg, Malmo FF, Djurgarden – won their visits. Two of them did so by three goals. Malmo FF would have joined them but complacent after taking a commanding lead early on. Good teams don’t struggle to break down this Falkenberg wall. Hammarby definitely fall into that category, and it’s up to them to prove it tonight.
There’s no logical reason to believe that the capital club won’t manage it, either. Hammarby have been absolutely outstanding of late, particularly when you factor in that they lost arguably their best finisher in Iceland’s Kjartansson. I appreciate that Tankovic is the Swedish media darling for Hammarby this season, and rightly so – he’s been fabulous. Kjartansson will always be one of the top finishers to play at this level in my book though. Hammarby didn’t bat an eyelid at his departure, though. They just went and signed American forward Johannsson from Werder Bremen. It’ll take a while for him to get back to match fitness – if indeed he ever does – but he’s a very good signing. That’s the draw of Hammarby’s brilliant attacking football; players that are too good for this level want to play for them.
I know they’ve got a lot of support and a reasonable amount of money but for this club to be able to sign and keep the likes of Tankovic, Durdic, Khalili, and Kacaniklic is unbelievable, really. It’s not a surprise that they’re pushing for the title with such a talented and varied attack. They’ve even improved defensively, which is something I don’t often say about Hammarby because they prioritise attacking. An argument could be made for them having the best goalkeeper in the Allsvenskan too – Curci. This is a very talented team overall, and that talent is accentuated by a brilliant work ethic that was forged in the Superettan just a few years ago. I really like where they’re at because nothing is ever enough; they’re utterly insatiable in their quest for silverware and European football, and they deserve both for the length of their journey and the style in which they’ve done so.
Fusing quality with brilliant tactics and work-rate makes Hammarby very hard to play against. Unlike more successful teams, they’ve not developed a sense of complacency for their position within Swedish football. That’s why I believe they’ve got what it takes to deal a serious amount of damage to struggling Falkenberg tonight. It’s likely to be a very dogged affair because both teams desperately need the points but Hammarby are more than equipped to win such games, and they can finish it on the break easy enough.
For my money, backing Hammarby to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 27/25 is well worth the risk so that’s my main tip. I also like the odds of 11/10 available on red-hot Tankovic bagging tonight so that’s my secondary tip for this game.
Verdict: Hammarby to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 27/25.
Verdict 2: Tankovic to score at any time at 11/10.
Monday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Brazilian Serie A:
Botafogo vs Chapecoense
Bulgarian A PFG:
Botev Vratsa vs Etar
Danish Superligaen:
AC Horsens vs Aalborg BK
Finnish Veikkausliiga:
Inter Turku vs KPV
German Bundesliga 2:
St. Pauli vs Holstein Kiel
Icelandic Pepsideild:
Fylkir Reykjavik vs HK
Valur Reykjavik vs Stjarnan Gardabaer
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Maccabi Netanya
Italian Serie A:
Internazionale vs Lecce
Italian Serie B:
Pordenone vs Frosinone
Norwegian Eliteserien:
Bodo/Glimt vs Valerenga Oslo
Russian Premier League:
Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast vs Sochi
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Falkenberg vs Hammarby
GIF Sundsvall vs Elfsborg Boras
IFK Goteborg vs Kalmar FF
Turkish Super Lig:
Gazisehir Gaziantep vs Genclerbirligi
Enjoy your free betting tips!