Djurgardens IF face Gent in their fourth Europa Conference League group stage game on Thursday, with the home side knowing a win would put them in a great position to qualify for the next round.
Gent currently sit in third on four points, and would blow the group wide open with a win that could fire them up to first place.
Match preview
© Reuters
Djurgarden were 1-0 victors away at Gent last week, despite riding their luck at times and only having two shots on target, but they now sit pretty at the top of the group, with a win very likely to be enough to secure a top-two finish in the group stages.
Defender Marcus Danielson scored the only goal of the game, latching on to the end of a cross from Magnus Eriksson to head home and seal all three points for his side.
The Swedish side were 3-2 victors against Molde in their Europa Conference League home game courtesy of a last-gasp Joel Asoro goal, while also picking up a point against Shamrock Rovers in their first outing.
Despite sitting second in the Allsvenskan, recent league form has not been up to par for Kim Bergstrand's side, losing their last two league matches, and failing to score in the process.
The most recent of those was a 1-0 home loss against title rivals Hacken at the weekend, leaving them three points adrift of their opponents in the table, with just five games to go.
With Gent on a three-game losing run after the defeat to Djurgarden last week, they needed to respond on Saturday, and did just that with an impressive 4-0 win away at Eupen in the Belgian Pro League.
The result means that De Buffalo's are now back in to the top eight of the league table, picking up 17 points from their first 11 games to claim their place in the second playoff group.
Manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck will also be pleased that striker Laurent Depoitre bagged another goal, with that making it two in his last three games, after a slow start to the season.
Also impressive was Hong Hyun-Seok, with the South Korean midfielder scoring two second-half goals to secure the three points for his side.
While defeat in their last Europa Conference League match will have stung, De Buffalo's are still well within reach of finishing in the top two, with a win on Thursday taking them above Djurgarden in the Group H standings, and potentially top if Molde fail to beat Shamrock Rovers.
Team News
© Reuters
Djurgarden's Hampus Findell had to be withdrawn in the first half during Saturday's defeat to Hacken, and so the midfielder is a doubt for Thursday's game.
Bergstrand may well want to stick with most of the players that secured victory in the reverse fixture, with Danielson likely to start again in defence, having scored and picked up a clean sheet last week.
Victor Edvardsen has nine goals and nine assists to his name in the league this season, and has started the last five games for his side, with the left-winger likely to get the nod again against De Buffalo's.
Gent also had a player that needed to be substituted before the break in their weekend game, with Alessio Castro-Montes brought off with a hamstring problem, and set to be out for some time.
Having favoured a 3-4-1-2 system for the majority of this season, and winning emphatically at the weekend playing this way, Vanhaezebrouck is poised to start a very similar team on Thursday night.
Hong is set to start in an attacking midfield role after impressing against Eupen, while Depoitre will surely keep his place in attack.
Djurgardens IF possible starting lineup:
Zetterstrom; Johansson, Danielson, Ekdal, Bengtsson; Banda, Schuller, Eriksson; Asoro, Radetinac, Edvardsen
Gent possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Torunarigha, Ngadeu, Okumu; Fortuna, Owusu, Odjidja-Ofoe, Samoise, Hong; Depoitre, Salah
We say: Djurgardens IF 1-1 Gent
Not much separated the two sides in the reverse fixture, and a draw may have been a fair result on the balance of play.
As such, we do not think there will be a winner in this one, with the spoils being shared, a result that would suit Djurgarden at this stage.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
