Gameweek 10 in Allsvenskan will feature a battle of the heavyweights, with Hacken taking on Malmo at Bravida Arena on Monday evening.
The hosts are currently in fourth place with 16 points after the first nine games, while the visitors sit atop the league standings with 24 points over the same period.
Match preview
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Hacken's unconvincing start to the 2024 league season continued last week when they suffered their third loss in the first nine league games of the campaign, beaten 3-0 by Halmstad on the road.
The Wasps saw 70% possession and fired an incredible 31 shots at goal, including seven on target in that game, but were unable to find the back of the net. HBK, on the other hand, managed only three attempts on target and scored with each.
Under Norwegian tactician Paco Johansen, who replaced Per-Mathias Hogmo in the offseason, Hacken are already eight points adrift of the league leaders with less than a third of the campaign complete.
In order for the side to challenge for top honours this season, the new boss is going to need to find a way to tighten up in defence, with his team having already conceded 14 goals, which is one more than basement club Vasteras have shipped to date.
Despite their shaky start to the league campaign, Hacken do have a very good record in this fixture, unbeaten in their last five encounters with Malmo, including a 4-2 win over them when they met at this venue in November last season.
Malmo will be well aware of that record, though, and will feel that they are in good enough form to get their revenge for that November defeat and bring their winless run against this opponent to an end here.
The Blue Ones have made an excellent start in their pursuit to defend the league title, taking 24 of a possible 27 points to date, with their only loss of the season coming against Elsborg on the road at the start of the month.
They bounced back from that defeat in true champion fashion, though, smashing in three unanswered goals against Goteborg before grinding out a 1-0 victory over GAIS at Eleda Stadion last week.
In contrast to their opponents, Henrik Rydstrom's side have been extremely miserly in defence this season, having been breached only four times to date and only once in their last seven games.
The visitors have firmly announced themselves as the team to beat this season, and a win here could see them stretch their lead atop the standings to eight points if Djurgarden lose to a tricky Halmstad side over at the Tele2 Arena.
Team News
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Hacken began the season with a few injury absentees and are likely to head into this match with four players sidelined, including Ishaq Abdulrazak, who will be returning to parent club Anderlecht at the end of June.
Isak Brusberg is sidelined for the foreseeable future due to a groin injury, and Jeremy Agbonifo is still on his way to recovery from an injured thigh. Nikola Zecevic picked up a knock early in the campaign and is flagged as a doubt.
Malmo will have to make do without the services of their first-choice right-back Jens Stryger Larsen, who was shown his third yellow of the season against GAIS and will serve his one-match suspension in this one.
In terms of injuries, Oliver Berg (ankle), Stefano Vecchia (back) and Niklas Moisander (arm) are ruled out for this match, while Oscar Lawicki has been missing since last year with a cruciate ligament tear and is still some way from returning to first-team action.
Hacken possible starting lineup:
Linde; Lindberg, Hammar, Lode, Laursen; Romeo, Gustafson, Dahbo; Youssef, Hrstic, Layouni
Malmo possible starting lineup:
Friedrich; Ali, Jansson, Cornelius, Busanello; Jorgensen, Pena, Johnsen, Nanasi; Botheim, Thelin
We say: Hacken 1-2 Malmo
While Hacken have been the dominant side in this contest in recent times, their form in the early stages of this season has been far from convincing, as illustrated in their loss to Halmstad last week. Malmo, meanwhile, have shot out the blocks with eight wins in nine games this term, and we feel they will add another victory to their tally in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
