Sportivo Ameliano picked up their first league win of the season against Luqueño having won in the cup versus Independiente. Libertad pulled off an incredible 4-3 win over Guaireña having been 1-3 down to secure their fifth straight win.

Humberto Garcia has found an able replacement to the Apertura top scorer Elias Sarquis in the form of Sergio Bareiro. The 24-year-old striker has already netted four times in his last four games creating a great connection with Elvio Vera. Defensively the team are missing Franco Ortellado who is out for the season having torn his ligaments. The new pairing of Benitez and Cabrera haven’t been able to keep a clean sheet in the league yet.

Libertad have such a strong squad that although they are constantly rotating, they will play Copa Sudamericana 72 hours after this match. Daniel Garnero has put in Ruben Lezcano, 19, for the now departed Diego Gómez, who has joined Inter Miami. Alexander Barboza played his first league game of the season and provided a match-winning assist for substitute Antonio Bareiro. Both could continue here with Melgarejo or Villalba given a rest.

Regardless of what side Libertad put out they will be tough to beat and are rightly favourites for this matchup. However, it is worth noting that Sportivo Ameliano have only failed to find the net against Libertad once, in their first league meeting in 2022. Since then they have scored in all five games, registering seven goals in that spell.

One of the games of the weekend in Brazil sees Atlético Mineiro host Flamengo in what should be a great game, between two sides who have their eyes not only on this fixture but the start of the Copa Libertadores knockouts, which begin in midweek. This could see both sides make changes to their usual XIs.

Atletico Mineiro have been in dire form recently and are without a win in their last eight matches, something they’ll be desperate to change here. In this period, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side have drawn five times, whilst losing three times. Last time out, Galo travelled to Porto Alegre to take on an inform Gremio side. Despite having a slightly greater XG, it was the hosts who enjoyed a 1-0 victory thanks to a first-half goal from Ronald. Galo will be extremely disappointed that they couldn’t get at least a point from the game. With a Copa Libertadores tie with Palmeiras on the horizon, Atletico will be keen on going into that game with a victory under their belt. They currently sit in 12th place in the league standings.

Atletico have the return of Arana, Vargas and Jamerson who missed the defeat to Gremio due to suspension. Matias Zaracho is an injury doubt.

Flamengo will be hoping for an improvement in their league form. They currently sit in third place and have drawn their last three matches. Last weekend, Flamengo took on America Mineiro at home and looked like they were going to suffer a shock home defeat but were rescued by a stoppage-time Victor Hugo goal in a 1-1 draw. Then in midweek, in the Copa do Brasil Semi-Final first leg, Flamengo put in a brilliant display to beat Gremio 2-0 away from home, giving them a foot in the final. This led fans and media to criticise the Rubro-Negro for being too inconsistent, something they’ll be keen on changing.

Flamengo’s Copa Libertadores tie in midweek sees them take on an out-of-form Olimpia side and unlike Atlético Mineiro, Flamengo have great squad depth and come into this one in better shape. Erick Pulgar misses out due to injury.

With Atletico Mineiro not being able to buy a win at the moment and Flamengo coming into this one on the back of a 2-0 win, as well as being unbeaten in their last nine matches in all competitions, it’s hard to see the Rubro Negro losing in this one.

Hammarby, after somewhat of a resurgence in recent times, stumbled to a 1-0 defeat away to an impressive Brommapojkarna side. While Bajen pushed for an equaliser late in the game, they were unable to create any clear-cut chances and walked away empty-handed. They were well-stifled, however that has become a rarity in recent times, with the Stockholm side getting increasingly consistent. They will still have their off-days with such a young squad, but these are becoming fewer and further between than earlier in the campaign.

Norrköping have themselves been improving – their style of play was criticised somewhat earlier in the season but they’ve managed to become somewhat more expansive the last few matches. While conceding freely, they are also scoring in the vast majority of games, only failing to do so twice all season. While only getting on the scoresheet once last weekend against Degerfors, the Norrköping dominance was clear to see, as evidenced by an accumulated xG figure of 2.57. With 33 shots taken, it was astounding the solitary goal didn’t come until the 92nd minute through veteran Maic Sema.

In order to push even higher in the table than their current fifth position, a continuation of the recent trend could see them push Djurgården, who are five points ahead with a game more played. There is a real possibility of a strong finish to the Allsvenskan season, with a decent squad and players who now know each other well on the pitch.

Hammarby are looking to bounce back here and are stronger at home, as evidenced by only having failed to score twice at Tele2 this season. Despite the visitors missing Totte Nyman, who has struggled in recent matches, they should be more than capable of grabbing a goal too, with the squad containing various threats.

Another side with Euro distractions, KuPS travelled to Northern Ireland without several first teamers (three quarters of their defence) after failing to apply for visas to play in the UK. But they should be otherwise fairly fresh, with no league match for nearly two weeks – but after the incredible form since the re-appointment of Jani Honkavaara, four points from twelve hasn’t helped the title challenge.

Ibrahim Cisse is still suspended after his fifteenth second red card against VPS and leaves a large hole. But, KuPS have signed two proven Veikkausliiga forwards in Jake Jervis and Tete Yengi who will be relish first team minutes since leaving Finland after good seasons in 2022 with SJK and VPS respectively.

KTP’s excellent 2023 has taken a slight stumble, without a win in three games and will be sorely missing Willis Furtado (banned) who has provided five goals and a constant threat. The side are drifting slowly downwards thanks to the winning run of VPS and are now only three points above a relegation play-off, and the joint lowest scorers in the division.

They do have form for frustrating the top teams though, taking points off both KuPS and HJK at home earlier in the year. The only likely chance will catching KuPS off guard, who’ve started slowly in their last home games.

A win for KuPS is vital to keep up with the leaders – they could be starting this fixture six points behind and the pressure will be on with no cup run left.

Both of these sides will be hoping for a memorable second-half of the season with the two sides, to different extents, enjoying impressive seasons of overachievement and performing beyond their pre-season expectations.

The home team come into this on the back of a 2-0 win away at Gefle’s fellow newly-promoted side from last season, GAIS, in their most recent outing last weekend. Vasteras have now enjoyed five successive Superettan victories with just one loss in their last ten matches as they challenge for automatic promotion.

They begin this weekend’s round of fixtures sitting in the top two with a seven point lead over Osters, who occupy the Allsvenskan/Superettan promotion/relegation place. They finished firmly in the middle-of-the-table last year with ten wins, ten draws and ten defeats but they did finish the 2022 campaign with three successive wins and they have continued that form into this campaign.

On the face of it, sitting ninth in a 16-team table isn’t necessarily something you would associate with ‘performing beyond pre-season expectations’ but considering Gefle were only promoted from the third-tier last season, to be just seven points off the top three is an achievement.

The visitors’ entertaining 2-2 draw with Ostersund last weekend made it back-to-back draws and they are now unbeaten in their last four matches in the Superettan, either side of the mid-summer break.

What will be a concern, though, is the fact their underlying data suggests they are getting unsustainable results and, in fact, they actually have the worst expected goals data in the division.

Despite Gefle’s form and general results throughout the campaign, they are expected to struggle a bit more in the second-half of the campaign and travelling to a team challenging for automatic promotion is an extremely tough test.

This fixture is an intense West Coast derby match between two big rivals. Each have performed extremely well this season with Brann already winning the Norwegian Cup and Viking as high as second in the table on a great run of six straight wins. Both have caught the eye with some enterprising attacking play and all things look set for a goals bonanza in Bergen this weekend.

Brann have a sensational 6-2-0 home record and have been well supported by their passionate fans. This is an extremely difficult place to visit and the reason why Eirik Horneland’s men are odds-on favourites to prevail. Brann have the third highest average xG of any team in the league at 1.91 per match and have been spearheaded by key attacker Bard Finne who has netted 11 goals this season. He is the key man for the home team.

Viking also pack plenty of firepower with captain Zlatko Tripic enjoying a strong season in particular. He leads the team with nine goals and five assists and is the total heartbeat of the team. Lars Jorgen Salvesen and Nick D’Agostino have been competing for the central striking spot although the manager has sometimes fitted them both into the same side. The Stavanger outfit have netted 34 goals which is the second highest tally of anyone in the Eliteserien. Their average xG of 1.84 per 90 mins is very healthy and proves that they have been creating significant chances. Viking have only kept two clean sheets in their last 13 matches, and it would be a big shock if they were to shut out Brann away from home.

Viking won the reverse fixture 3-1 so Brann will be out for some revenge. Viking have actually won the last four H2H meetings so there is some significant pressure on their opponents to put an end to this trend. The obvious pick is to back over 2.5 goals due to the significant attacking weapons on the field. The odds are only at 1.40 but this looks a huge banker considering what is at stake.

The classic IFK are going through a disastrous period, arguably one of the worst in their illustrious history. A terribly composed squad, managerial havoc and boardroom incompetence makes for a calamitous combination, leaving the team in all sorts of trouble.

With only 10 points accumulated in 16 matches and one single win on the board, the situation is sticky. The idea of bringing back veterans with experience and quality is a good one, as seen with league-leading Elfsborg, but these need to be close to their prime and not way past their best. The likes of Marcus Berg, Gustav Svensson and Oscar Wendt have all been below par, and a lack of competent players in their prime is a real issue. A mix of youthful inconsistency and ragged semi-retired professionals is not a recipe for success, as witnessed by the Gothenburg faithful to date this campaign.

The lack of goalscoring threat has been apparent for a while – they are simply not progressing the ball well enough and getting into dangerous positions. This is also not helped by the fact that their total xG figure for the season, 17.4, has been fallen short of, with only 13 goals scored. In fact, they have only managed to hit the back of the net twice in the last five matches, with the likes of Marcus Berg underperforming and growing increasingly frustrated up top. They are looking for a new striker, with a few reputable names rumoured, but that won’t help solve the larger issues. One minor positive is they are not conceding too much either, with only 19 goals against in their 16 league games.

Kalmar have, after a couple of losses, managed to get back to winning ways domestically with a narrow 1-0 victory over bottom-of-the-table Varberg. They had to work hard for their points but grabbed a late winner through a Skrabb penalty. While neither being as robust defensively nor as controlling in possession as last season – largely due to the departure of manager Henrik Rydström – they will give any team a good challenge. After a Thursday night European qualifier loss with close to a full-strength side, there may be some tired legs in this encounter. In any case, they tend to be a bit more pragmatic away from home, only scoring more than once in one single away game this year.

IFK Göteborg will be looking to keep it tight while Kalmar’s away form is questionable. We should not be seeing any sort of goal fest here.

This is a mouth-watering fixture between two fierce rivals from the north of Norway and there should be some fireworks. This is also first v third in the table and there is plenty at stake apart from local pride. Bodø/Glimt have been brilliant this season, winning 13 out of 16 league games.

They are comfortably top of the Eliteserien table and have been legitimately strong with some fantastic metrics. Glimt have scored a mammoth 43 goals and conceded just 16 times. They have an average xG per game of 2.35 and have scored at least two goals in every match apart from one. They warmed up for this league game with a comfortable 3-0 success in Europa Conference League qualifying v Czech side Bohemians.

Tromsø must be given credit for having such a great campaign and will be delighted that they beat Brann at home 2-1 last week. They are very well managed by Gaute Helstrup and he gets the absolute maximum out of this set of players.

However, we cannot hide behind the fact that they continue to overachieve at both ends of the field, especially defensively. Gutan have the best defensive record in the Eliteserien, conceding just 14 goals but their xGA is as big as 21.75! Over the course of a season this is unsustainable, but Bodø/Glimt won’t fear their defence anyway. Glimt have won both competitive meetings this season by a 3-2 scoreline, the most recent was a come from behind Norwegian Cup victory when they trailed 0-2 with only 15 mins left.

Both sides are located inside the Arctic Circle and Tromsø are the most northern professional football club in the world. Recent H2H meetings have been extremely high scoring and it resembles a heavyweight boxing fight when they face each other. Each team are constantly trying to land knockout blows.

Nine of the last 11 meetings have all ended with over 2.5 goals and this is no fluke. Odds on that happening again are 1.44 and it looks extremely likely considering all factors, especially with Glimt’s brilliant attack and Tromsø’s massively overachieving defensive metrics.