Preview: Sirius vs. Kalmar

Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Swedish Allsvenskan clash between Sirius and Kalmar, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Sirius will be looking to pick up a third league victory on the bounce for the first time since April when they play host to Kalmar in round 18 of the Allsvenskan on Sunday.

The Roda broder journey to the Studenternas IP where they have failed to win any of their last seven visits since May 2011 and will head into the weekend looking to end this poor run.

Match preview
© Imago

Sirius turned in a superb attacking display last weekend as they picked up a 4-2 victory over Varnamo when the two sides squared off at the Finnvedsvallen.

Despite the efforts of Michael Steinwender and Simon Thern, Joakim Person and Leo Walter combined to put the hosts the sword as they both scored twice to cap off an impressive performance by the blue-black.

Sirius have now picked up three victories from their last four matches, scoring eight goals and keeping one clean sheet, having managed just three wins in 12 matches preceding this run.

This upturn in form has seen Christer Mattiasson’s men surge from the bottom half of the Allsvenskan table as they now sit in eighth-place, level on 24 points with ninth-placed Brommapojkarna.

Kalmar, on the other hand, continue to struggle for results at the wrong end of the table as they suffered a 4-1 thrashing against Hammarby at the Guldfageln Arena last Sunday.

In a one-sided affair, Tesfaldet Tekie, Shaquille Pinas, Jusef Erabi and Deniz Gull all found the back of the net to fire Hammarby to their 10th win of the season, with Simon Skrabb getting on the scoresheet for the hosts.

Kalmar have now lost five of their last seven league matches since mid May while conceding 18 goals in that time, highlighting their struggles at the defensive end of the pitch, where they have shipped the joint-highest number of goals in the league this season (37).

Stefan Larsson’s men have picked up just 16 points from their 17 Allsvenskan matches so far to sit bottom but one in the table, four points above last-placed Vasteras and three points away from safety.

Next up for the Roda broder is the daunting challenge of taking on an opposing side who are unbeaten in 11 of their last 12 league meetings, claiming four wins and seven draws since May 2018.

Sirius Swedish Allsvenskan form:

Kalmar Swedish Allsvenskan form:

Team News
© Imago

Sirius remain without the services of 29-year-old defender Tobias Carlsson, who has been ruled out since picking up a head injury in March’s game against Halmstad.

Swedish forward Herman Sjogrell missed the game against Varnamo last time out due to an injury and the 23-year-old is a major doubt for Sunday’s clash.  

With his brace against Varnamo, Walta now has six goal involvements in the first five matches to start the season and the 21-year-old, who completed a move from Mjallby in March, will be one to keep an eye on.  

As for Kalmar, Larsson will be unable to name 20-year-old defender Rony Jansson, who is set to sit out his seventh straight game after suffering a broken collarbone injury in June.

He is joined on the club’s injury table by 24-year-old Carl Gustafsson, who continues his long road to full fitness after picking up a severe injury back in April 2023.  

Sirius possible starting lineup:
Tannander; Castegren, Nwadike, Jeng, Widgren; Stensson, Wikman, Walta; Persson, Ljungberg, Heier

Kalmar possible starting lineup:
Brolin; Hallberg, Sjöstedt, Osuji; Karlsson, Sipiao, Skrabb, Gersbach; Jensen, Islamovic, Ring

We say: Sirius 2-0 Kalmar
Kalmar find themselves scrambling for points at the wrong end of the table and will head into Sunday’s tie looking to pick up a morale-boosting victory. However, Sirius boasts a solid home record in this fixture and we see them coming away with the desired result.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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