Icelandic Football
2013-06-02 - IBV Vestmannaeyjar vs Fylkir Reykjavik
A Sports Betting Pick by Cornholio
Icelandic top league – Round 6
Sunday 2 June 2013, Kickoff 17:00 GMT
Both of these teams progreesed to the last 16 in the Cup earlier this week and both did so by beating lower league teams where the winning goals came in the last ten minutes in both games.
Now they continue the top league battle where the hosts need to win to stay in the top battle while the visitors need to win to get away from the relegation zone.
IBV Vestmannaeyjar
IBV Vestmannaeyjar have started pretty well in the league beating IA Akranes and Breidablik at home in the first two rounds before making a strong away draw with title holders FH Hafnarfjordur. It‘s hard to say if they have slowed down in the last two rounds or not. They lost a difficult game at home against a strong KR team while in last round they travelled to Olafsvik only to make a scoreless draw against Vikingur.
The draw against Vikingur O means that IBV have only made 2 points in the last 3 games and scored just 1 goal. However, FH and KR aren‘t exactly the weakest opponents while Vikingur Olafsvik are bound to make some points at home.
On top of that, IBV trashed league one team Throttur Reykjavik 1-5 in the round of 32 in the Cup last Wednesday. It wasn‘t though until the last ten minutes they really got the better of the oppent scoring their last 4 goals after the 80th minute.
IBV‘s latest team news are that goalkeeper David James has returned to Iceland after staying in England on a coaching course. James didn‘t play against Vikingur O and Throttur but is expected to be back in the group against Fylkir.
Fylkir Reykjavik
Fylkir Reykjavik have been of to a bad start in the league collecting only 2 points and conceding 10 goals with 6 coming in the last two games. In last round they got trashed 1-4 at home by relegation candidates Thor Akureyri once again showing the weakness of their defence which is, in part, made up by youngsters and previously injured players who played little or nothing in the pre-season games.
Like IBV, Fylkir progressed to the last 16 in the Cup by beating league one team Volsungur 2-0 at home scoring both goals in the last ten minutes. Fylkir‘s game against IBV is very important since their next three opponents will be Breidablik, FH and KR and not improving their defence in those games, including the one against IBV, can easily see them rock bottom after the next few rounds.
Many eyes will be on Fylkir‘s key striker and former IBV player Tryggvi Gudmundsson who played for the latter for years. Tryggvi has scored the most goals in the history of the Icelandic league and he will certainly want to net against his former club.
Head to head
Since 2000 the two have met in 24 games with IBV winning 11 and Fylkir 9 games. The average goals per game is 2.88. Last season they drew 1-1 at Vestmannaeyjar while IBV won 0-4 on the road. They also drew 2-2 in the pre-season League Cup. In fact the last home win between them was back in 2010 when IBV won 1-0. 5 of the last 6 and 7 of last 9 games were over 2.5 goals.
The Betting verdict
I‘m going for current form here and there IBV is the winner even though they have slowed down in the league.
Their recent opponents have been strong and it‘s quite clear that IBV have stronger group than Fylkir who still haven‘t won a game in the league and have been very weak in defence in latest games.
On top of that, David James seems to return to IBV and that should add to their confidence.
The Pick :
IBV Vestmannaeyjar 2-0 Fylkir Reykjavik
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
Take IBV Vestmannaeyjar to win @ 1.67 (Paddy Power)
