The Norwegian Eliteserien is now in full swing with ten rounds of games played so far. Two of the teams hoping for glory this season, Molde and Valerenga meet on Wednesday night.
Molde are currently third-place in the Norwegian top-flight table, five points adrift of leaders FK Bodo/Glimt. They are also six points clear of the third-place visitors, so a victory would put them in a strong position early in the season.
The current Norwegian champions have made a decent start to the campaign, having won eight of their first ten league games this season. However, last time out they suffered a 3-0 defeat at leaders Bodo/Glimt.
The defeat not only ended a four-game winning run in the top-flight for Erling Moe’s team, but it also brought to an end a prolific run of goalscoring, as Molde had scored at least twice in their previous four league outings. At the other end of the pitch, the game also ended a three-game run of clean sheets in the Eliteserien for the home team.
Valerenga head to the champions on a seven-game unbeaten run in the Norwegian top-flight, although three of those undefeated matches have finished in draws. Last time out, the visitors recorded a 2-0 home win over Stromsgodset, a game which saw Dag Fagermo’s team continue their impressive recent defensive record by keeping their fourth straight clean sheet in the Eliteserien.
Their recent defensive displays have affected the number of goals scored in league games of late, as their last four matches in the top-flight have produced under 2.5 goals.
Although Valerenga are unbeaten in three away games, they have won just once in their previous four Eliteserien matches on their travels.
Forebet predicts that Molde will record a victory in a high-scoring encounter to make up ground on league leaders Bodo/Glimt at the top of the table.