Valerenga vs Sandefjord Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

The Norwegian Eliteserien returns from its summer break this weekend. This Sunday’s clash between Valerenga and Sandefjord is on paper one of the easiest games to call with the visitors cut adrift at the bottom and in need of a bit of a miracle in the second half of the campaign as they aim to beat the drop.

Sandefjord have just 6 points on the board and it’s tempting to already write them off. They are 8 points behind the side directly above them so they are effectively 3 wins back on even their nearest rivals and that is some margin considering they’ve only won once all season until this point. They have signed two players over the summer break but it’s unlikely to be enough to really turn their season around.

Things are going better for Valerenga. They are pretty comfortably positioned in mid-table, which is where they finished last term. It may not have been the most exciting of seasons but they are only 6 points off 3rd so a win here could push them up towards the European places. They were hammered 5-1 at Molde in their final game before the break but that was quite out of character and at home at least, they’ve been much more solid.

They’ve a 43% clean sheet ratio in front of their own fans and have only been defeated once at home this term in the Eliteserien. They’ve won 7 of their last 12 at home in the Norwegian top flight so they can take plenty of belief from that and they ought to have enough about them to win this game against weak opposition.

There are very few stats that make positive reading for fans of Sandefjord. They’ve lost 75% of their away league games this term and 6 of their last 7 on the road in all competitions. Their home form has actually been even worse so it’s 11 defeats in 12 overall for them heading into this one. Their inability or lack of willingness to invest over the summer break suggests they’ve effectively accepted their fate and it’s hard to see them adding many more wins to their tally over the final 14 games.

They have at least looked a bit tougher to break down over the past couple of months with 7 of their last 9 league defeats coming via 2-0 or 1-0 margins. Given that backing Valerenga & Under 3.5 Goals could be worth considering here.