Battling for the bragging rights of Stockholm, city rivals Djurgardens IF and Hammarby will clash at Tele2 Arena for an all-important Swedish Allsvenskan match on Sunday afternoon.
The Blue Stripes will be looking to continue their stellar run of form after beating Mjallby last time out, whilst Bajen are hoping to build on back-to-back successes most recently.
Match preview
Since the narrow 1-0 defeat to league leaders Malmo on April 25, Djurgardens have recorded six straight victories in the Allsvenskan, with the most recent of those arriving at the home of Mjallby last weekend, when a soon-to-be-departed player stole the headlines, and a space on the scoresheet.
The Blue Stripes managed to secure a 3-1 win at Strandvallen with two of the goals coming via midfield prodigy Lucas Bergvall, who will play his final game for the club this Sunday before linking up with Sweden's Under-21s ahead of joining Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur for their pre-season schedule in July.
After collecting a maximum of 18 points from their last six Allsvenskan fixtures, Sunday's hosts have cemented second position as their own in the league standings, sitting four points ahead of newly-promoted GAIS in third, but the six-point gap to leaders Malmo will be a concern to supporters who are targeting a charge for the club's 13th Swedish title.
Also making the net ripple at Mjallby last Saturday, Turkish striker Deniz Hummet has adapted seamlessly to life in Stockholm after switching from former employers Kalmar, with the 27-year-old scoring six goals in his opening 11 league appearances for the Blue Stripes, whilst also providing two assists.
Although the likes of Spurs-bound Bergvall and bagsman Hummet will capture the majority of the attention, the defensive solidity of Kim Bergstrand's troops cannot be underestimated, with Djurgardens keeping five clean sheets across the course of their six-match winning spell, conceding just once.
Looking to cause a major upset in the Stockholm derby on Sunday, Hammarby come into their first rival clash of 2024 in pretty decent form, with Bajen winning two straight home matches over the past fortnight, beating AIK 2-1 before putting a sorry Sirius to the sword by three goals.
Scoring his first-ever goal for the club, 18-year-old winger Bazoumana Toure opened the scoring for Hammarby last time out, before second-half strikes courtesy of Tesfaldet Tekie and Viktor Djukanovic ensured that there was no way back into the contest for Christer Mattiasson's men.
Following on from a disappointing seventh-placed finish in 2023 - the club's lowest since 2020 - Bajen are back on track in terms of competing for a spot on the continental stage, with Sunday's "visitors" to Tele2 Arena occupying fifth place, only three points behind surprise package GAIS in third.
After guiding Varnamo to a historic fifth-placed finish in the Allsvenskan last campaign, Kim Hellberg is now in charge at Hammarby and tasked with steering his troops towards Conference League football, with the 36-year-old winning six of his 11 matches in charge so far.
There have been seven goals across the last three Stockholm derbies, with all of those strikes arriving in the same fixture back in May 2023, when a brace of penalties from midfielder Nahir Besara helped Bajen to a thrilling 4-3 victory over their arch rivals.
Team News
After suffering a muscle injury in early May, Djurgardens centre-back Marcus Danielson is back in first-team training and could feature at Tele2 Arena on Sunday.
The Blue Stripes will be unable to call upon the services of midfielder Rasmus Schuller, who is still recovering from an injury sustained in early April.
Following five shutouts in the last six matches, Jacob Zetterstrom is a certainty to keep his place in between the sticks, with Jacob Une Larsson and Miro Tenho at the heart of the backline.
Having signed from Portuguese outfit Estoril at the start of the year, Frederik Winther managed just two league appearances for Hammarby before picking up a campaign-concluding cruciate ligament injury.
Jusef Erabi was a genuine goalscoring threat for Bajen during the early stages of the term, but now the 20-year-old is occupying a spot in the medical room due to knee issues.
Djukanovic might be promoted to the XI after netting off the bench last weekend, but Hellberg could be keen to stick with the same starters for a massive derby clash.
Djurgardens IF possible starting lineup:
Zetterstrom; Johansson, Tenho, Larsson, Dahl; Bergvall, Sabovic, Wikheim, Nguen, Gulliksen; Hummet
Hammarby possible starting lineup:
Dovin; Skoglund, Kurtulus, Vagic, Pinas; Karlsson, Tekie, Schellhas, Besara, Toure; Gul
We say: Djurgardens IF 1-0 Hammarby
Considering their excellent recent form and defensive record, Djurgardens should be a shoo-in for victory on Sunday, although the heat of the Stockholm derby makes his contest hard to predict.
Hammarby have picked up some respectable results over the past two weeks and will be confident of earning something, but we feel that the Blue Stripes will win narrowly as they say goodbye to Bergvall.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
