FC Copenhagen vs AaB Aalborg
Danish Superliga
Date: Saturday, July 15th, 2017
Kick-off at 15:00 UK / 16:00 CET
Venue: Telia Parken, Copenhagen.
As the Danish Superliga kicks off this week, FC Copenhagen will start their title defense with a home game against AaB on Saturday.
Copenhagen won the league for a second consecutive time last season as they had a 22-point gap between them and the second place Brondby. They kickoff this season as favourites and will hope to land a 3rd straight Superliga title this season.
Having lost some players in the summer transfer, they have also brought in some new faces; Pieros Sotiriou, Pierre Bengtsson and Michael Luftner.
AaB were very poor last season, they managed the 10th spot in the Superliga, they escaped relegation by wiskers. They will be keen for an improve performance from their last season’s outing as the begin the new season.
They have brought in 2 new faces this summer; Jores Okore and Filip Lesniak while Joakim Maehle left.
FC Copenhagen
Since the horrible preparatory period is behind Copenhagen, the upcoming two weeks are crucial for their season. They failed to win all three friendly matches they had scheduled. At first, they were beaten by Serbian champions FK Partizan despite they were without their three key players. Afterward, they drew Krasnodar and Sturm Graz, so they finished the preseason winless.
FC Copenhagen are facing Zilina in UEFA Champions League qualification. The first leg will be played in Slovakia, so before facing Aalborg, the hosts will play crucial match towards next European season along with a long trip back home.
AaB Aalborg
Aalborg finished the regular part of the last season in 8th place, so they had to compete in the relegation group. They dodged the playoffs by securing the second position in their group.
In their first match of the preseason, Aalborg were beaten by Midtjylland 1-0. They won next two games, against Hacken and Vendsyssel FF, respectively.
In their last prep match, Aalborg drew Hansa Rostock 1-1.
Aalborg’s goal this season is to finish among the top six which will be far from easy as the competition in Denmark is getting huge.
FC Copenhagen vs Aalborg: Head-to-head
Aalborg are winless against FCK since 2014. In the last seven outings between the two sides, FC Copenhagen won 6 outings while Aalborg only grabbed a point.
FC Copenhagen vs Aalborg: Prediction
Taking Copenhagen’s obligations in Champions League qualification and their poor pre-season performances, they seem slightly overrated. Backing Aalborg with +1.25 handicap is an excellent choice since FCK will certainly rotate, especially if Zilina manage to surprise them in Slovakia.
