Odd Grenland Skien vs Lillestrom
FreeOk guys, thanks very much for the support with the Bet365 link and banner clicking – it’s really good of you all! If you could please continue to do this whenever you remember then it’d be greatly appreciated, especially if placing bets at that time. Thank you!
Today’s secondary featured game is the Eliteserien game between Odd Grenland Skien and Lillestrom.
Hosts Odd Grenland are finally waking up after a pretty poor start to their Eliteserien campaign and have now started putting in some decent displays, especially at home. I remember when Skagerak Arena was a fortress for Eliteserien away teams – nobody could win there. It’s not the case nowadays, although it still requires a good display if Odd Grenland show up. Indeed, since their opening day 0-2 defeat against Start Kristiansand, the only side to win here was Stabaek in a 2-3 goalfest, which is no surprise as Stabaek use artificial turf at the Telenor too, just like Odd Grenland do. Rosenborg struggled here and Molde FK lost here in Odd Grenland’s last home game so you can see that they’re starting to improve. Old hand Frode Johnsen is playing a big part in that although I’m not entirely sure how – he needs assistance to move nowadays, doesn’t he?! Still, the pace of the likes of Myklebust or Midtgarden helps out, as does Krogsgard although in a slightly different way. Odd Grenland do remain a good home side though, and I expect to see that today. They do have a couple of hefty absences with captain Fevang and fellow midfielder Samuelsen both absent today. Their other absences can be dealt with but those two will be missed. I’d be more concerned about it if they were facing a side that knew what “tactics” are, though, and Lillestrom are definitely not one of those sides!
Lillestrom’s tactics sheet generally just reads “attack!”, I’m quite sure. They have zero interest in defending, which is why they’re the top goalscoring side in the division and yet one of the highest conceding sides in the division too. However, as most of you already know, they sold star striker Udah to Mainz 05 lately and given that he contributed just less than half of the goals that Lillestrom have scored this season, that’s a pretty big blow. Their attack is now effectively going to be Sigurdsson and/or Gulbrandsen (due to injuries to other strikers), neither of which bring the same threat that Udah did. Igiebor is still a very talented player and will be a threat but he’s virtually on his own here, really, especially with Knudzton still out too. Number one goalkeeper Magnusson is absent today too, as is experienced midfielder Gislason and regular midfield Sogard. Bluntly, there are an awful lot of gaps in this Lillestrom team today and given that they can’t defend and their attacking power is massively damaged, I don’t see much happening from their side of things today.
Lillestrom with holes everywhere playing on unfamiliar artificial turf spells problems for Henning Berg’s boys. The hosts should be able to capitalise on that, even without the likes of Fevang, so the home win appeals to me at evens.
Team news – Odd Grenland Skien miss Samuelsen, Fevang, Borven, and Andersson whereas Lillestrom miss Eziodawe, Magnusson, Gislason, Sogard, Knudzon, Bolly, and Sekour.
My tips:
LASK Linz vs St.Polten (7)
First Vienna vs Lustenau (6)
Austria Lustenau vs Blau-Weiss Linz (7)
Hartberg vs SCR Altach (7)
Haka Valkeakoski vs JJK Jyvaskyla (6) 0-1
Hungarian Soproni Liga:
Debreceni VSC vs Vasas Budapest (6) 2-1
Dundalk vs UCD (7) 2-0
Galway United vs Sligo Rovers (5) 1-2
Drogheda United vs Shamrock Rovers (7) 1-2
Hougang United vs Woodlands Wellington (6) 1-0
Slovakian Corgon Liga:
Slovan Bratislava vs Trencin (6) 2-1