Västerås vs Norrkoping prediction 14.07.2024

• Competition: Allsvenskan 
• Date: Sunday, 14th July, 2024
• Kickoff: 15:30 UK / 16:30 CEST
• Venue: Hitachi Energy Arena (Vasteras)

After a 26-year wait, Vasteras finally secured a return to Allsvenskan, and their only goal this season is to somehow secure survival. For now, the season isn't going according to plan, as they are the last-placed team with eight points in 13 rounds, already five away from the safe zone. Still, we could see some good displays in recent matches, and they have a reason for optimism.

Norrkoping, the 13-time Swedish champions, won their last title in 2015. Since then, their results (more or less) have constantly declined, and this season is their worst in a very long time. Currently, they are 15th, with 11 points from 13 matches - three above their next opponent and three below 13th-placed Goteborg, which are in the safe zone. Unlike Vasteras, which showed some signs of life in recent games, Norrkoping are only getting worse as the season progresses and have lost four in a row before the Vasteras game.

Vasteras vs Norrkoping pick: Under 2.5 goals

With nine scored goals in 13 games (0.69 per game), Vasteras are by far the worst offensive team in the league. However, their defense have been pretty good and are currently the fifth-best, only behind Malmo, Djurgarden, Hammarby, and Mjallby. A combination of poor offense and good defense makes them the best team in Allsvenskan for this type of bet. 69% of their league games finished with fewer than three goals.

Norrkoping are in terrible form, with four losses in a row. They only scored three goals during that five-time period, which is well below their average of 1.23 goals per game. Even though they played many high-scoring games this season, that is mainly due to poor defense. Still, we do not think Vasteras can exploit that as some of the better teams did.

Considering all the above, we believe an under 2.5 goals bet should be the best option for this Allsvenskan tie.