Sandefjord and HamKam square off in Eliteserien on Thursday looking to move clear of the relegation zone.
Despite these teams being bottom and 13th place respectively, there is just one point separating the two clubs in the standings.
Match preview
Having only narrowly avoided relegation last season, Sandefjord would have been sceptical over whether sufficient improvements could be made to enjoy a far more productive campaign this time around.
Their pessimism has since proven to be correct, The Boys having recorded just two wins from their 11 matches in Norway's top flight during 2024.
Those two victories in question came in succession and in some style, too, with 3-1 and 4-1 triumphs being posted over Molde and Sarpsborg respectively.
Since then, however, Hans Erik Odegaard and Andreas Tegstrom's team have failed to prevail in five games, conceding 11 goals in the process.
Incredibly, Sandefjord defied a 36th-minute sending off to earn a 3-3 draw at KFUM Oslo, although they did ship an equaliser in the 89th minute.
As far as Hamkam are concerned, their two victories this season came more recently, one of them a 7-1 victory away at relegation rivals Sarpsborg 08.
Two defeats have since been recorded in succession, though, with the most recent being a 2-1 loss to Brann back on June 1.
Jakob Michelsen's task is to keep HamKam in the top flight, so positives can be taken from only losing twice in their most seven recent outings.
Nevertheless, these are the games they must take advantage of if they wish to challenge for the 11th place that they achieved last season.
Team News
Martin Gjone will be introduced into the Sandefjord defence as a replacement for the suspended Stian Kristiansen.
Sander Risan Mork is also in contention for a recall having scored as a substitute last time out, but Sandefjord should line up similar to the last fixture.
Fredrik Sjolstad was withdrawn for HamKam through injury in their last outing, but almost four weeks have passed since that game.
Brynjar Ingi Bjarnason, Arne Odegard and Pal Alexander Kirkevold were introduced as half-time substitutes against Brann and impacted the game, so they are all in contention here.
Sandefjord possible starting lineup:
Keto; Pedersen, Bergile, Kristiansen, Cheng; Amin, Ottosson, Mettler; Markovic, Tveter, Al-Saed
HamKam possible starting lineup:
Sandberg; Mares, Norheim, Bjarnason; Jonsson, N. Odegard, Simenstad, A. Odegard, Kongsro; Kirkevold, Udahl
We say: Sandefjord 1-1 HamKam
There are aspects of these two teams' records that are not as bad as you would expect, most notably their backlines. They have also scored fairly consistently compared to other clubs, but we are going to back a low-scoring stalemate.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
