An underwhelming GW5 is behind us and we can now take stock of what happened, and what lies ahead in GW6. Häcken’s Paulinho (12.1m) missed out due to illness and Alexender Jeremejeff (9.6m) failed to pick up the slack against an AIK side that managed to change formation to a 4-3-3 but they still kept a clean sheet. The change in formation also pushed Panajotis Dimitriadis (5.6m, owned by 9.2%) out of the starting eleven.
Malmö demolishing Hammarby in the 2nd half
Hammarby had a tough task ahead of them when they travelled to Malmö and even though the defence was tested, they came out of the 1st half with a 1-0 lead thanks to Muamer Tankovic (8.6m). The second half was a different story though as Malmö pressed down the throttle and completely overrun Hammarby, winning the game by a margin of 4-1- Most notable fantasy contributor for Malmö was Arnór Ingvi Traustason (8.5m) who netted 10 points thanks to a goal and an assist and no bonus. Popular pick Anders Christiansen (10.0m) came out of the game with no more than 2 points with a defensive bonus point making up for the yellow card subtraction. That yellow card also brings him to the suspension tightrope (every three yellow cards means one-game suspension in Allsvenskan). A disappointing day for AC-owners, albeit not quite as much as it was for Hammarby-supporters…
Elfsborg continuing to be strong at home
Against Sundsvall at home Elfsborg scored three goals and now when faced with Örebro, they managed to net four times. Away from home, they’ve just managed one goal in two fixtures so far and even though it’s early days still, this fits in with the general narrative that has been around Elfsborg for quite some time where they get most of their points at home. Samuel Holmén (5.5m) scored a brace but this is somewhat out of character for him, last season he got precisely 0 goals and 0 assists in 25 appearances, the only time he’s really been a “points-player” was back in 2012 playing in the Turkish league (11 goals and 7 assists in 33 games). Pawel Cibicki (8.5m) chipped in with a goal and assist and continues to be an interesting option.
Tight schedule resulting in tight games?
Mid-week games tend to be a bit “meh” and that certainly was the case in GW5 as beyond Malmö-Hammarby (4-1) and Elfsborg-Örebro (4-2), the rest of the games finished:
0-1
0-0
1-0
1-1
1-1
1-1
Possibly impacted by the tight schedule, we can hope that it will be a bit more free-flowing this weekend, although given the quick turnaround yet again we can’t be too certain. Allsvenskan squads don’t have as much quality depth as Premier League teams do, which can mean that the football sometimes suffers, and injuries/niggles are more frequent.
Preview GW6
Saturday has just the solitary fixture in Sirius-Elfsborg, where owners of Philip Haglund (7.6m) will be hoping for a Sirius bounce-back. Even though Elfsborg tend to struggle on the road, they have enough offensive quality (and are possibly starting to hit some form), I’d say goals on both sides are the likely outcome here.
On Sunday the headline act will be the Stockholm derby featuring Hammarby-Djurgården, a game that as the cliché goes “have very little to do with actual form”! This derby tends to be intense and has over the last few years produced quite a lot of goals with their last six games in the league ending 1-3, 1-2, 1-1, 3-1, 4-2 and 1-3 (Hammarby winning four, Djurgården one and one draw). Tankovic to continue his great start to the season, Mohamed Buya Turay (9.7m) to knick a goal?
Other than that, we’ve got Häcken-Eskilstuna (will Paulinho be fit?) and Norrköping-Malmö on Sunday, with goals likely to be produced on all sides bar possibly Eskilstuna. Jeremejeff needs to start contributing again for Häcken and a home fixture against Eskilstuna could be the perfect time to do it. Norrköping will get Jordan Larsson (7.1m) back and given his form (4 goals in 4 games) he looks a good bet to start. Traustasson, Sören Rieks (9.4m), AC and Marcus Antonsson (11.0m) will try to provide the offensive spark for Malmö.
Monday has Sundsvall-Falkenberg, Göteborg-AIK, Örebro-Kalmar and Östersund-Helsingborg. Linus Hallenius (10.5m) made a surprise return and scored a goal as well mid-week, a strong captaincy shout. Will AIK hold on to their formation that saw them beat Häcken 1-0? Can Örebro actually win a game?? Will the popular pick Benjamin Nygren (6.0m) get back on the scoresheet and what of GW1 hero Rasmus Jönsson (7.6m) who has produced absolutely nothing since his opening day brace?
How did you do in GW5?
What are your thoughts on the Stockholm-derby, and what transfers are you considering?
Meltens
