SonderjyskE and Lyngby Boldklub get round two of the Danish Superliga underway when they go head to head at the Haderslev Football Stadium on Friday.
This will be the first meeting between the teams since May 2021, when Thomas Norgaard's side cruised to a 2-0 home victory courtesy of goals from Rilwan Hassan and Haji Wright.
Match preview
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SonderjyskE were denied a dream start to life in the big leagues as they suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Silkeborg when the sides squared off in last Sunday's season opener.
In an action-packed contest at JYSK Park, 22-year-old midfielder Pelle Mattsson came up clutch for Silkeborg as he netted the only goal of the game to inspire them to a nervy opening-day victory.
This followed a somewhat disappointing performance in pre-season, where SonderjyskE failed to win any of their four warm-up games, playing out three consecutive stalemates before losing 3-2 against Copenhagen in their final friendly match on July 16.
Norgaard's men come into the new season off the back of a remarkable 2023-24 campaign as they stormed to the 1st Division title, picking up 68 points from 32 matches to finish first in the promotion group and end their two-year absence from the top flight.
Key to SonderjyskE's promotion to the Superliga was their performance away from home, where they went unbeaten in 15 of their 16 league games, claiming 10 wins and five draws — the best away record in the 1st Division last season.
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Like this weekend's hosts, Lyngby Boldklub suffered defeat in their opening game as they were beaten 2-0 by Copenhagen when the sides met at the Lyngby Stadion on Monday evening.
The home side were made to rue their lack of cutting edge in the final third as Orri Steinn Oskarsson and Mohamed Elyounoussi scored first-half goals to hand Copenhagen a comfortable victory.
This was in keeping with their unconvincing performance in pre-season where Lyngby suffered three consecutive defeats in their first three friendly matches before claiming a 4-0 victory over Swedish outfit Landskrona BoIS on July 13.
Morten Karlsen's men endured a forgettable 2023-24 campaign as they picked up 23 points from their 22 matches in the regular season before finishing fourth in the relegation round, just four points above the drop zone.
Next up for De kongebl is a trip to the Haderslev Football Stadium, where they have won just one of their most recent seven visits while losing five and picking up one draw since March 2018.
While Lyngby will be looking to find their feet this weekend, results on the road offer little optimism as they have failed to win seven of their eight away matches this year, losing six and claiming one draw so far.
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Team News
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New signing Ivan Djantou was forced off injured midway through the second half against Silkeborg last time out and the Cameroonian forward is a doubt for SonderjyskE.
In his absence, 22-year-old Kristall Ingason will push for his first start of the season, while we expect an unchanged midfield trio of Ivan Nikolov, Rasmus Vinderslev and Sefer Emini.
At the defensive end of the pitch, Andreas Oggesen, Maxime Soulas, Daniel Gretarsson and Atli Barkarson should retain their roles in the XI, with 28-year-old Nicolai Flo starting in goal once again.
As for Lyngby, they will be without several players down the spine of the team as Baptiste Rolland, Rezan Corlu and 31-year-old Mathias Kristensen are all recuperating from injuries.
Former SonderjyskE man Marcel Romer will play no part in Friday's game after coming off injured against Hvidovre on May 25, while Ghanaian midfielder Enock Otoo has been out of action since April through a severe injury.
SonderjyskE possible starting lineup:
Flo; Oggesen, Soulas, Gretarsson, Barkarson; Emini, Vinderslev, Nikolov; Klysner, Ingason, Lyng
Lyngby Boldklub possible starting lineup:
Storch; Gregor, Bjelland, Lissens; Storm, Winther, Sandgrav, Finnsson; Magnusson, Gytkjaer, Amon
We say: SonderjyskE 2-1 Lyngby Boldklub
Having lost their opening game, SonderjyskE and Lyngby will head into the weekend looking to bounce back and get their season up and running. De kongebl have struggled for results on their travels and we fancy Norgaard's men to come away with a narrow victory in front of their home supporters.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
