AaB vs Esbjerg Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

AaB had another disappointing season of non-improvement in the Danish Superliga last season. They surprisingly won the Superliga title back in 2013/14, but they followed that up with a 5th place finish and replicated that finishing position again last season. They eventually ended up 21 points adrift of winners Copenhagen, but this season they will be hoping to make some headway on closing the gap on the dominant Copenhagen.

This lack of progress last season was made even worse by the fact they completely collapsed at the end of the season, losing five and drawing one of their final six league games and dropping out of the Europa League qualification spots.

AaB have made a decent start by winning two and drawing two of their opening four matches this season, a tally that puts them in 4th position. They are only two points adrift of leaders Copenhagen and behind Midtjylland and Brondby on goal difference alone, so a win on Monday could potentially send them to the top of the table.

Whilst AaB had a disappointing campaign because of their lack of improvement, Esbjerg continued their decline. They ended up in 11th position, which would have resulted in relegation had the Danish Superliga not planned a restructuring to allow for two extra teams to compete this season. They managed just 30 points from their 33 league matches.

This continued a trend from the past few years. When they were promoted back to the top flight in the 2012/13 season they finished in an impressive 4th, but the next season they dropped to 5th and then to 8th the season after. Last season’s 11th place finish continued that trend.

Esbjerg haven’t filled their fans with confidence so far this campaign either. They lost their opening three matches in the Superliga, conceding ten goals and scoring just once. They did manage to pick up a point against AGF on Monday and then progressed in the DBU Pokalen in midweek, but their league form isn’t showing much promise.

AaB haven’t been great at home recently either though, although their decent attack has resulted in nine of their last 16 home games in the league having at least three goals. The fact that they have scored 31 goals during this period will be a boost too, especially since they’re coming up against an Esbjerg side who are dreadful at the back away from home.

The visitors have conceded 19 goals in their last seven away days in the Superliga, which has resulted in all but one of them having at least three goals scored. This makes odds of 4/6 for Over 2.5 Goals look decent value, so I’m backing that along with a 2-1 win for AaB at 7/1 for my correct score prediction.