Icelandic Football
2011-08-22 - Fylkir Reykjavik vs Breidablik Kopavogur
A Sports Betting Pick by Cornholio
Football : Icelandic top league - Round 16
Monday August 22 2011, Kickoff 18:00 (GMT)
Neither of these two sides have done too well this season. However, while the home team is positioned around where they were predicted to be the visitors have disappointed quite badly and aren’t in the all-clear from relegation.
This is a clash between two good attacking sides with bad defenses.
Fylkir Reykjavik
Before the season started Fylkir were predicted the 8th place so it’s fair to say that their season has been acceptable since they are currently placed number six in the table, but that’s really it.
With yet another unstable performance this season their overall record is 5-4-6, 22:27, and it seems they are having a similar season as last year where they ended up in 9th place.
In last season Fylkir started well winning the first two games and this season their initial run was even a bit better where they won four of the first eight games and losing only two. In these eight games they scored 13 and conceded 11 goals but since then everthing has gone down for them.
In the next seven games they have only produced one victory but have lost four. Their scoreline in those seven games is 9:16 so it seems that the main difference is that they are conceding much more.
After beating Grindavik 4-1 away in the 12th round Fylkir have played three awful games where they lost against IBV and Valur but drawed against Fram in the most boring game of the season. Now they will have to face a team that is in great need for one more win to get to the comfort zone in the league, a team capable of scoring a lot of goals.
Fylkir have two big problems; weak defense and the lack of a strong home field. They are only 2 2 3, 8:12 at home compared to a similar away record of 3 2 3, 14:15. Another big factor could be their manager who is this stereotype of a tough matcho man always with a big mouth in interviews talking about his players performing like girls and such. I’m not sure how good he is at motivating his players.
It also doesn’t help Fylkir that they sit in a secure spot in the table far away from the relegation places and too far from the top battle and even the European battle. This fact was well seen against Valur in last round where Fylkir were bad and didn’t have any spirits at all.
Scoring only two goals in last three games while conceding six they will have to do better against Breidablik who can score a lot of goals. But, with Breidablik’s weak defense this is a great chance for Fylkir to get their scoring back on track.
Breidablik Kopavogur
Breidablik were predicted to be in the top battle after finishing as Champions last season, but in fact they sit all the way down in 9th place with only 16 points and an overall record of 4-4 7, 22:28, a scoreline almost identical to that of Fylkir’s.
Like Fylkir Breidablik have a bad defense and in fact they haven’t kept a clean sheet all season but unlike the former Breidablik are fairly strong at home with a record of 4-1-3, 15:11. The difference is that they are terrible on the road where they haven’t won a single game, only managed three draws but lost four.
Not winning in last five games, losing four of them, they got the lead in last round at home against IBV but lost 1-2. Like Fylkir Breidablik’s scoring has gone down and they have only scored two goals in the last two games. Their main goalscorer, Kristinn Steindorsson, has stopped scoring and they simply don’t seem to have anyone else who can fill in for him.
With only 16 points Breidablik is still eight points in the clear of relegation but that could chance fast if they continue to fail to win their games. One more win could certainly help them in securing their spot so they could simply start thinking about how to forget this season as quickly as possible.
Fylkir have been conceding lately so Breidablik should be able to put some pressure on them up front and Fylkir’s position in the table could help Breidablik in acheaving this. However, since Breidablik don’t look at all like they will ever keep a clean sheet they might have to score more than, at least, one goal.
Head to head
Since 2006 Fylkir and Breidablik have met 11 times. Breidablik have 7 wins and Fylkir 3. 2 draws. In this time Fylkir have only once won at home, losing 3 times and drawing once. 6 of those 11 were over 2.5.
The Betting Verdict
Hard to say really. Both teams are on a bad run and this is a great chance for both to get something going again. The fact that Breidablik really needs it more than Fylkir makes me think that this could well be game Breidablik finally gets an away win. However, it’s hard to look passed Breidablik’s away record so it might be better to go for some kind of a total goals bet.
An interesting fact about Fylkir is that in their last six games they have failed to score in the first half in all of them and trailing at half time in five of those six.
BEST BETTING TIP :
Main betTake Over 2.5 goals @ 1.45 (Bet365)
Side bet
With Fylkir’s bad first half record lately I want to try Breidablik to be leading at HT @ 3.1 (Bet365)
Long shot
Breidablik’s first away win is closing in so I´m guessing they could well bring it all the way home. Try HT/FT Breidablik/Breidablik @ 5.5 (Bwin)
