Two sides operating at opposing ends of the Swedish Allsvenskan table come together at the Eleda Stadion on Friday evening.
Malmo currently top the division with 25 points from 10 games, while Kalmar find themselves in the relegation zone with 10 points.
Match preview
After winning their record-extending 23rd championship last season, Malmo got off to the perfect start this time around with six wins from their opening six league fixtures.
A 3-1 defeat to the 2023 runners-up Elfsborg followed, but Henrik Rydstrom's men quickly returned to form with two wins and a draw in the three matches since.
Now a third of the way through the season, Malmo hold a three-point lead over second-placed Djurgardens IF, who are set to play fourth-placed Mjallby AIF in the coming matchday, giving the league leaders the potential chance to extend their lead at the top of the table.
Malmo will hold the home advantage in their upcoming match, where they have not lost in a competitive setting since a 2-1 defeat to Mjallby in July 2023.
They come up against a Kalmar side that have endured a difficult beginning to their campaign, amassing 10 points from the 10 matchdays thus far leaving them currently residing in 15th.
That is an extreme drop off from their recent seasons, improving upon 14th in 2020 with two sixth-placed finishes sandwiched around a fourth-placed result in 2022.
Kalmar have managed to improve in recent weeks, winning two and drawing one of their last four matches, but a trip to Malmo, where they have won just once in the last 13 competitive meetings, serves an entirely different challenge for Henrik Jensen's men.
Despite that poor record on the road, Kalmar have managed to win two of the last three meetings with the Blue Ones, something that will give them confidence coming into this one.
Team News
The hosts will be unable to call upon the services of no fewer than five players for this upcoming matchday due to a variety of injuries.
Daniel Gudjohnsen, Niklas Moisander, Oliver Berg and Stefano Vecchia are unavailable for this one but are set to make their returns in early June.
Oscar Lewicki is set to remain on the sidelines until late September after a cruciate ligament injury in January.
As for the visitors, they are missing both Carl Gustafsson and Johan Karlsson due to injury.
Captain Simon Skrabb will also sit this one out after an accumulation of yellow cards earned him a suspension.
Malmo possible starting lineup:
Dahlin; Ali, Makolli, Jansson, Cornelius, Busanello; Pena, Johnsen, Nanasi; Botheim, Thelin
Kalmar possible starting lineup:
Kindberg; Jansson, Saetra, Sjostedt, Arash; Gojani, Romarinho; Trenskow, Magashy, Ring; Islamovic
We say: Malmo 1-0 Kalmar
Malmo have got off to a much better start to the season in comparison to Kalmar and with them holding the home advantage, where they have not lost since July 2023, we expect the hosts to win this one.
All of the last six meetings between these two sides have ended in 1-0 scorelines, and we expect this one to follow that same trend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
