Malmo FF vs FC Copenhagen Predictions

Malmo almost held out for a point away at Dynamo Kiev in their group opener, but an 84th minute goal meant they left the Ukrainian capital empty-handed. They can probably take some positives from that defeat though, given it’s not an easy place to go.

They head into the game having won their last five league games, all without conceding a single goal and they sit second in the Allsvenskan where they are already deep into the season.

Copenhagen claimed the three points in their opener by defeating Swiss side Lugano 1-0, that was a welcome win at the time, given they had lost their previous three in all competitions.

Quite a few stats point towards this one being pretty lifeless on the goals front. As previously mentioned, Malmo are keeping things extremely tight at the back of late, having kept a clean sheet in 8 of their last 10 games in all competitions. They’ve only conceded 14 goals all season in the league from 26 games.

With that watertight back-line, the visitors might struggle to register themselves on the score-sheet. They beat Danish Second Division side Hillerod Fodbold 5-3 in their last away match, but prior to that they had only scored 2 goals in their previous 4 away games. Copenhagen’s recent Europa League away record also suggests a low-scoring game. They’ve failed to score in 4 of their last 5 in the competition on their travels and there’s been under 2.5 goals in 10 of their last 13 Europa League away games.

The likelihood is that they will once again try and keep this a tight game for as long as possible, without gambling too much themselves, they came away from Atlanta and Slavia Prague with clean sheets last season. That could result in Malmo finding it tricky to make a breakthrough themselves.

Both openers for these two teams saw just one goal in each game and we’re expecting a similar story here. Malmo arrive in top form but Copenhagen’s ability to put in a plucky away day could stop them from firing in many, or any goals here. That coupled with Malmo’s brilliant defensive record of late, under 2.5 goals is our prediction for the game. Given it could be a game where both side’s defences blunt the opposition’s attack, we’re going 0-0 for our correct score prediction for the fixture.