SK Brann will be looking to get back to winning days in order to keep their top-three hopes alive when they face struggling HamKam at Brann Stadion on Sunday afternoon in the Eliteserien.
The hosts have stuttered in the league recently but secured a convincing cup win last time out, while HamKam need to end a run of Eliteserien defeats to climb out of the bottom two.
Match preview
Brann earned their spot in round five of the Norwegian Cup on Wednesday night by thrashing third-division outfit Brattvag 7-1 at Brattvag Kunstgress.
A quartet of goals - two either side of the half-time interval - from Bard Finne were the highlights of an easy evening for the first-tier visitors, with a last-eight tie now set up with Valerenga in the middle of July.
The focus for Eirik Horneland's men now returns to the Eliteserien in which they are currently two matches without a win, losing their first game in over a month last time out at Viking.
Despite that defeat to their Europe-chasing rivals, Brann remain third in the league standings having collected 21 points from 12 matches - a place in the Europa Conference League next term would be quite the achievement for the 2022 second-tier champions.
The Brann Stadion has been a happy home for Horneland's charges so far this term, with the hosts on Sunday picking up 14 points from six matches in front of their own fans.
HamKam also enjoyed a sizeable cup victory in midweek, going away to third-tier side Gjovik-Lyn and recording a 5-0 success, with Brynjar Ingi Bjarnason bagging a brace on the night.
Matters in the Eliteserien are not going as swimmingly for the 2021 second-tier champions, with Jakob Michelsen's side currently on a run of eight matches without tasting victory.
Last Sunday saw HamKam lose by a 1-0 scoreline for the first time this term after Odd netted a late winner through defender Leon Hien in the 85th minute - the hosts at Briskeby Arena were simply unable to hold out for only their eighth point of the season.
Kamma are sitting 15th in the Eliteserien standings, three points behind Valerenga in the safety of 13th and two points worse off than 14th-placed Sandefjord.
Michelsen's men possess the unwanted record of being the division's leakiest defence, conceding 27 goals in just 11 matches, four more than any other side in the top flight.
Team News
Brann have a few injury concerns ahead of Sunday's contest, one of which being striker Aune Heggebo, as he continues to recover from a leg injury sustained at the start of May.
Veteran centre-back Ruben Kristiansen is also a doubt for this weekend due to a groin injury, meaning Japhet Larsen and Fredrik Knudsen are likely to be the central-defensive pairing.
HamKam will be without the services of defender Julian Dunn-Johnson until the end of July after he picked up a knee injury - the Canadian has made only four appearances since making the switch from Toronto in January 2022.
Michelsen is set to name the same back three which came so close to keeping a clean sheet against Odd last weekend, with Lars Jendal in net looking to build on his shutout in the cup a couple of days ago.
SK Brann possible starting lineup:
Dyngeland; Crone, Knudsen, Larsen, Pedersen; Rasmussen, Nilsen, Myhre; Blomberg, Borsting, Finne
HamKam possible starting lineup:
Jendal; Sjostad, Opsahl, Norheim; Gammelby, Kurtovic, Hernandez-Foster; Onsrud, Melgalvis; Kirkevold, Udahl
We say: SK Brann 2-0 HamKam
Brann put third-tier opposition to the sword on Wednesday night in the cup, and the hosts should be confident of firing plenty of goals past the Eliteserien's poorest defence.
HamKam have lost all five of their away league matches so far this term, conceding 20 goals in the process, meaning even the most optimistic supporters will not be expecting a result on Sunday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
