Bodo/Glimt will welcome AZ Alkmaar to the Aspmyra Stadium in the Europa Conference League, with this being the first leg for the round of 16, with each club aiming to take an early advantage.
Both teams head into the game in good form, and will have the belief that they can continue their progression within the competition.
Match preview
© Reuters
Bodo/Glimt's league campaign may not have begun yet, but they have kept themselves fresh with pre-season friendlies, while the Norwegian Cup also began recently.
The club were able to progress in the fourth round of the competition, picking up a confident 3-0 win which will provide plenty of momentum heading into this fixture on Tuesday.
The Norwegian outfit did not lose a single game during the group stage, having won half of their matches while drawing the others, and that continued in the previous round against Celtic.
Bodo/Glimt were dominant against the Scottish side, scoring five goals across the two legs, starting out with a 3-1 victory away from home.
In the following match Ola Solbakken and Hugo Vetlesen both got on the scoresheet as Kjetil Knutsen's men won 2-0, securing their place in this round.
© Reuters
AZ Alkmaar did not need to participate in the knockout phase of the competition, as they actually won their group, only dropping points within two matches.
However, they were never defeated, with the club winning four matches and drawing the other two, both of which took place during away games, which they will be hoping to improve upon this week.
Defensively, Pascal Jansen's team have performed well in the Europa Conference League, keeping clean sheets in all the games that they won, and that is something they will be looking to continue.
The club were recently defeated in the KNVB Cup semi-final against Ajax, but they responded to that well at the weekend, winning 3-1 against NEC, with Jesper Karlsson scoring a brace, and Hakon Evjen also getting on the scoresheet.
AZ Alkmaar are performing well in the Eredivisie, currently sitting in fourth place, only nine points from the league leaders, and their form is something that will provide confidence to the squad.
- W
- D
- W
- D
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Bodo/Glimt should benefit from being slightly sharper due to their lack of game time overall with the league not starting for them, which they will be hoping can provide a benefit to them.
Knutsen could end up naming the same starting XI from the team that defeated Celtic, with Runar Espejord leading the line with Solbakken and Amahl Pellegrino out wide.
The visitors also head into this match with no major fitness concerns, which should lead to a strong team being fielded by Jansen, who could also opt to make no alterations.
Karlsson is fresh from scoring twice at the weekend, and will likely keep his place in the team as the main attacking threat, with the club continuing to operate the 4-4-2 system.
Bodo/Glimt possible starting lineup:
Smits; Sampsted, Moe, Hoibraten, Wembangomo; Vetlesen, Hagen, Saltnes; Solbakken, Pellegrino, Espejord
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Vindahl-Jensen; Sugawara, Hatzidiakos, Martins Indi, Fonn Witry; De Wit, Reijnders, Clasie, Evjen; Karlsson, Pavlidis
We say: Bodo/Glimt 1-1 AZ Alkmaar
Both Bodo/Glimt and AZ Alkmaar are in good form overall heading into this fixture, and are two well-matched teams that should be able to provide a close encounter.
Neither club will want to give too much away in the first leg of this round, and because of that, it could end up being quite a cagey contest.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Bodo/Glimt win with a probability of 43.69%. A win for AZ Alkmaar had a probability of 32.68% and a draw had a probability of 23.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bodo/Glimt win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.01%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.53%) and 2-0 (6.33%). The likeliest AZ Alkmaar win was 1-2 (7.65%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.73%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Bodo/Glimt in this match.
