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Even though this is a very important duel and might expect a somewhat lower number of points, I think this game will very much go in the opposite direction. Apart from Rimbo, Drottaand Ystads are the teams playing with the highest tempo in the Elitserien and attack is their best defense. Their first game ended in 60 points, and the game played two weeks ago saw only one goal less. Unlike in those duels, the key shooters for both teams should be well-rested today and one should expect them to be at the highest level. YIF have rested their first-choice back court Nilsson - Ibsen - Sjoberg as much as they could, while Persson (the top scorer of the Champions League Group stage) is back for Drott. I think there should be no problem for these teams to go into team over, so the total over has a very high value. Details

These two teams played a duel with 52 goals a bit over a month ago, that duel was far more important than the one today, and I really don't think they'll go under that today. Gyor announces an attraction that should help get as much fans as possible on to the F4 tournament in Budapest, and Larvik are coming to celebrate their 100th game in the Champions League for the two of their players (Kristiansen, Riegelhuth-Koren), so I don't think these two teams will start some kind of a war on the court. Details

Lund audience should be seeing a completely different match than the one played in Hungary. Lugi went to that away match without the first striker Tingsvall, the defensive specialist Jernemyr, and the half-injured Christansen tended the goal. Compared to that duel, Tingsvall is definitely coming back today (he wasn't injured, but rested), and after 11 months of being away, the great left wing Gumundsson is also back. He was the best striker for his team with five goals in the city's derby, and showed his form isn't questionable right after he came back. With this duo, the home team are already at least 30% stronger, and it's possible that Jernemyr will also be back, but there are mixed info about that - if he would play, it would definitely be a bonus. But, Lugi can be dominant tonight even without him. The Hungarians took the road on Friday afternoon, came to Sweden yesterday afternoon and did one practice - less than they expected. Compared to the first duel, Vadkerti is still out, and the right back Olah joined him. He's one of the most experienced players in the team, and his absence could mean a big loss for Csurgoi in both ways, so it isn't surprising that the first play maker Pukhovski said the team should be thrilled if they get one point. But, that's hard to expect on a very uncomfortable Swedish court - Lugi haven't lost one game in the EHF Cup at home, and I'm sure they'll continue that series today. Details

True, Buducnost still haven't been defeated in the main phase of the Champions League, and Krim are in crisis. But, today's duel's result isn't important for either of these two teams, and in duels like those, usually the motivation decides. No doubt Krim are more motivated - they want to win in front of their audience and make up for the horrible defeat in Podgorica. Adzic coming to Ljubljana without a few important players (Cvijić, Vukčević, Pavičević, Knežević) and the first goalie Woltering being questionable definitely works in their favor, and with Adzic' statements, I doubt Mehmedovic and Petrovic will play a lot, they came back to practices on Thursday. The guest coach clearly said that the players who play less minutes will have their chance to prove themselves today, and I think with a team like that, Buducnost can't be such a favorite in the middle of Ljubljana, as much as the home team are in a bad financial situation. For a lower stake, you could try the home team's win, but the most likely is a duel with goals over the margin. Details

These two teams played 10 West Sweden derby games in the last 5 years, and never once went over today's margin. The total numbers in those games were 50, 46, 53, 50, 48, 43, 53, 50, 53, and 51 goals. Two last two numbers are this season's games, and as such should be relevant for this game. The visiting team, unlike in those two games, can't count on their most important offense players Stojcevski. That forced the already defensively powerful RIK to turn to defense even more. It is therefore difficult to expect anything else from them today. On the other hand, there's Alingsas, who displayed nothing against Hammarby's 3-2-1 defense last round. RIK aren't playing in 3-2-1 formation, but they do play 5-1. AHK's offense depends on the junior national team player and as soon as someone manages to stop him, and that is expected to happen today, the home team lose a lot of offense power. I expect both team unders, and therefore the total under has great value as well. Details

In the first duel, Lugi conceded 26 goals against Vasteras at home, but today, it would be crazy to expect anything similar. In that duel, Brljevic's team had 23 technical errors, which resulted in 10 goals from the counter attacks. It was also a duel where all the Lugi's players got their chances, and that meant a drop in the quality of the defense. Today, things are much different. Lugi will probably be here without their best player Hagman, who's the best player of the league, she injured her knee. She scored 13 goals against Skovde and 12 against Skuru in the last two rounds - without her, Lugi can't do anything else but to focus on their tough defense. Brljevic's team lest Skuru, who play rought, with 21 goals in the last round, and today they have a duel against a team that's far less offensively potent, Vasteras. This match is a key match for the home team in the battle for the playoffs and we can expect them focus on the defense completely, but also try to play more calmly in the offense. In the first duel, VI's players tried to outrun Lugi and ended the match with 26 technical errors, and they'll hardly repeat the same mistake today. This duel is really important for Lugi because if they win, they could get back to the second place, and we shouldn't see them experimenting like they did in the beginning of the season. All in all, a match that should be a real war, a situation in which Lugi don't concede over 20 goals, but it won't be because Lugi don't realize their chances and won't be complete, according to coach Larholm's statements. A good alternative is an under for the whole match, considering that Hagman probably won't play, and without her, Lugi's offense loses at least 30% of its power. Details

In the second part of the season, Rimbo have never conceded below this margin, and there are no signs that their defense will do any better today. The home team have started experimenting again, getting back to their "crazy" 3-3, change to 5-1 o r 6-0 sometimes. In short, they don't seem to know what they want to do in front of their own goal. In last round, they conceded 38 goals against Drott, 26 of which came in the second half. True, they did concede only in the first, but that should not worry anyone too much as Drott missed five 7-meter shots in that period, which is not likely to happen again. So, Rimbo could have conceded over 40 in that duel very easily. In the previous H2H, RIK scored 43 goals and 35 in the first part of the season - well over this margin on both occasions, and they will want to do something similar today. The visitors are very motivated, they want to redeem themselves for the defeat against their local rivals Saveholf, and they could not have asked for a better opponent. A good alternative is total over as middle back Tollbring is back for the home team and he is the crucial player in Rimbo's attack along with Abdullahi. Details

Savehof were very disappointed with their fist home defeat this season. They were beaten by Thuringer, who almost certainly eliminated them from the CL semi-finals. Only four days later, they have a a local derby against OHK who want to proved that they can do better than -20, which was the difference in their home game. This will probably be hard to do as this game is coming at a very difficult moment for Signell's team. In four days, they have a league game against Midtjylland where they can extend their hope of reaching the semi-finals and they have three tough away games at Lugi, Vardar and Hoors. We might say that their duel today is more of a nuisance and that it's very difficult to expect their first team to be fully motivated. The home team are also without their top shooter Alm, which proved to be huge problem during the weekend. True, OHK don't have the quality as Thuringer, but they should not be such pushovers, at least not in this game. Details

Three factors seem crucial in today's duel: 1 - Savehof haven't lost at home in the Champions League, only Krim and Vardar took one point away from them and they're definitely better teams than Thuringer, 2 - guests from Germany were defeated in all four away games they played in the Champions League this year, including the one against Hypo, and I have a hard time believing that the Austrian team are better than the current Swedish one, and 3 - Thuringer simply have too many key players injured (Nadgornaja, Jakubisova, Lumuzova, Althaus, Wohlbold...), so it has to show in their game. Playing without the best striker and the best defensive player would be a big problem for the guests already, but Lumuzova will probably be out, too, she was the main "joker" in the Champions League main group. Of course, we should also keep in mind that this is the last chance for Savehof to stay in the game for the F4, so they'll definitely be extra motivated and have a great support from the stands. Details

This is the duel between the two best counter-attack teams in the Elitserien. The first head-to-head ended with 62 goals, even though it was very tight (31-31). So, the tempo did not drop even in the final stages when every goal/miss could mean the difference between losing or winning. Coupled with the fact that Drott were without Adolfsson in that match, a player that a lot has been said about this season, the margin of 57 goals is really low. Drott with Adolfsson as their center-back push the game without too much defense, they are very creative and score +30 goals on a regular basis, but so do they conceded +30 goals - suffice to say that they have conceded 35 goals and more on two occasions, with more than 10 saves from their keeper in only one half. On the other hand, we have Alingsas who may have a better defense than Drott but not to the extent to be able to put this margin at risk, especially not if the hosts push for fast middle (which is very likely). In offensive terms, Drott's defense is virtually non-existent, and when they face a very talented center back like Konradsson, who signed a new contract ahead of this game and is very motivate, we should not fear for the lack of goals from Alingsas. I expect both teams to get about 30 goals and I think total over is a very good option. Details

Savehof generally handle the games before the Champions League with maximum dedication and it is enough to see their previous duels this season in those situations to see just how powerful the hosts for today are in those situations. They scored 38 against Onnereds, 31 against Skuru (main title contenders) 35 against Karra, 33 against Eslov, 41 against Skanela Sparvagens and Eslov. Since Skovde and Karru play the fastest games among the mentioned teams, it is very hard to see the reigning champions under 35 goals, especially as they won their first game at home by 31-27, when Skovde's form was far from their current form. The fact is that the home team still have no solutions for Elitserien Top 4 teams - they conceded 37 against Skuru, 33 against defensively-minded Lugi, and that is the margin for today, while Savehof are a completely different story. Total over is also a good alternative. Details

A pretty high margin, probably thanks to two Sporting's duel that went to 57 goals. But, Skjern and Montepellier are similar to the Macedonian representative. So, the reason for the over on this margin are Sporting's opponents, not the Portuguese themselves - everyone knows that coach Santos starts with good defense, and they take it slowly - duels they played against Porec might be showing that the best, where they were left at 48 goals, and in the return fixture on the home court, they had 44 thanks to the Croatian club breaking apart by the end of the duel. I don't expect Zomimak to play tougher than Porec. They're a pretty experienced (not to say old) team who don't need to run too much. We could say their game is typically Macedonian, tough in front of their defense, and offense - it goes as it goes. With fast Skjern, they were left with 47 goals, and I really don't see a duel with 10 goals more this time. True, they took it to 63 with Montpellier, but they were without a few important players then, and without any motivation, so I don't see that duel as being a measure. Details

The first duel of these two teams, which actually mattered, ended with 70 goals. Today, we have duel which bears absolutely no importance for either team and they can play for prestige. The visitors have clearly stated they will handle this more like a training session and that they will focus on improving Persson's stats to help him stay the top scorer in the CL at the end of group stage. So, their middle back Adolfsson (definitely a crucial player for the Swedish team) is heading towards Spain, even though he has just recovered from groin injury. Not much has been said about defense and the team has conceded 35 goals against Hamburg, 14 in the first half with 14 saves from Bladh. So, it could have been a lot worse, and I expect this scenario today. As the home coach said, it will be very difficult to motivate the team and this usually means lacklustre defense and we can expect another game with at least 60 goals. Details

RIK is temporarily lead by Wislander, who insisted on a fast pace game last season, but I highly doubt he'll demand that from his players today. There are two reasons for that: 1. That kind of approach saw them badly defeated in the last round to Malmo, and 2. RIK already beat Skovde twice this season, both times on account of great defense, which limited the opponent to 22, and 20 goals. Since Skovde managed to record two consecutive wins for the first time this season, courtesy of good defense, it's not realistic to expect them to try and outrun the opponent. Besides, coach Johansson is extremely oriented on good performance in defense, at the same time greatly neglecting the offense. Details

Since 2000, these two teams have played five league games against each other and they ended with 51, 45, 49, 51 and 49 goals. The last game was played in December last year and can definitely be taken as a measure of strength. In comparison to that game, the hosts are without their top scorer Berg, while the visitors are without Tellander - also a quality scorer. Both squads have announced that today's game will be physically very demanding, filled with strong contacts and it is very hard to expect such a game to get to 55 goals. 50 goals seems like a more realistic option. The only small downside is that the hosts got one of their best back players Komayesh, which is why I decided to go with a moderate stake. If he didn't play this game, I would go with a much higher one. Details

This is a surprisingly low margin for a duel of two high-pace teams. The margins are probably a result of somewhat lower figures in the games against Midtjyland, but this game doesn't have the tempo these two teams have. While the Danes place a huge emphasis on defense, Thuringer and Savehof are regularly trying to outscore their opponents, leaving their defense to chance. Savehof's games against Leipzig, the German team with a much slower pace than Thuringer, are good testament of that as the Swedes played a 62- and 53-goal games against them, going over this margin both times. And we should also not that the Germans came to their 53-goal game with only 10 players and tried to slow things down as much as possible just to decrease their defeat. This cannot be expected from Thuringer today, especially as they will probably be without their crucial defender Althaus. The only way the German team can win this game is through offense. They scored 26 against defensively superior Midtjyland at home, they almost went over the margin for today, so there should be no doubt that this game should have at least 55 goals. In the first group, Thuringer's home games ended with 65, 58 and 59 goals, Savehof saw 64 and 62 goals in important away games against Krim and Leipzig, respectively, which only confirms that we should see plenty of goals today. Details

Savehof already played vs Eslov in the first half of the season, at home, in a very similar situation where they also had Champions League duels a few days prior and after the game- back then they won by seven goals with rather few rotations. In his statement prior to this duel Signell said that could win it with their hands in their pockets, meaning probably that the starters will get a rest. The away team had a tough duel vs Midtjyland in Denmark four days ago, and were by their own admission rather tired after it, so this match is a thorn in their side during the preparations for the Vardar match. However, psychology might be a bigger problem than fatigue today. The Swedish media is openly stating that the referees failed to award a penalty shot to Savehof in the last second of the game, and it is common knowledge this can really affect players. Their shooter Alm took the loss the hardest, and stayed on court for a long time after the game ended, with her family comforting her, and without her contribution Savehof can hardly go over this margin, especially with a much bigger role of the reserves. Even if Savehof weren't playing vs Vardar in four days, this handicap would be worth playing as the guests haven't gotten "through" this margin vs Eslov for the last five years (11 matches) and a situation like this only increases the value. Details

These odds would be somewhat realistic had Cindrić stayed in Karlovac but this way, everything above 1.5 on the home team seems too high. His departure to Metalurg cost the visitors their player with most goals and assists, and the best player in the Premijer Liga, according to many handball fans in Croatia. He should have been replaced by Peraica but he has some injury problems and will be gone for a month, so Požega will probably start as the playmaker who seemed quite sluggish in the preparatory tournament in Karlovac some 3 weeks ago. The other option is the inexperienced U-18 national team player Smojver. Coupled with the fact that their left back Borozan has some groin problems, it will be interesting to see what Karlovac's attack will look like in the end. It will probably include a lot of balls for the pivot and as Dubrava's defense is very mobile, it's not likely that this will be an easy task. So, the visitors should rely on their defensive abilities that have usually been their stronger weapon. But the fact is that they will also have to play good offense (which I highly doubt) as Dubrava are great in the transition and use the mistakes of their opponents very well and score a lot of goals against unorganized defense. The fact is that the visitors didn't show too much discipline in the preparation tournament and this could be very costly today. Karlovac struggled a lot against Dubrava at home then, Cindrić scored 7 goals (their top scorer) while the visitors played without Dumenčić, as one of their best back players and their keepers got only 5 saves. This kind of performance is not likely to be repeated today and the hosts are much bigger favorites here than the odds would suggest. Details

This is the third duel of the season for Hammarby and Redbergslids. The first two ended with 47 and 48, and since the play-offs calculations begin, both clubs showed each point is of extreme value for them. So, each ball is equally important for both coaches, and we can expect a moderate rhythm in this match. RIK are much more focused on the defense, and that's what they have to do today because Nikola Stojcevski, a leader of their offense, is missing, and RIK are simply not the same team without him around. The fact that they conceded only 17 goals against Onnereds proves that they're defensively oriented. True, they were successful then, but mostly because of the opponents' bad return to the defense.
Hammarby are a lot stronger in that segment, and they're pretty tough in the defense, too. They left Drott under 30 goals twice in a row, and Drott have an incredible rhythm, so it wasn't that simple. RIK play a lot slower, and we expect more game with the defense set. If we take a look at the home team's offense to the set defense, they have solutions for the left side only, so I don't doubt RIK will know how to save that. Dolk and Pujol being the only ones in the mood can hardly suffice for the goal festival in today's duel against a team that's a lot better defensively, than Ilija Droft. Hammarby were left at 55 and 57 in the two duels against them, RIK even under today's margin - only 52. Both teams play calmer than the current champion and about 50 goals could be the upper margin of the goals they can reach. Details

Things are clear - the Bears have fallen apart and it's questionable which line-up they'll take out. Only a week before this duel, they had six players, and were looking for retired players, students who went to coaching, and so on. A team that looks for reinforcements that way can hardly stay in the premier league, or even hope to get a point or two. Gorica already lost one point against Medvescak at home, and they'll go to today's duel full force. Not so much because of the point lost, nor the fact that they have no idea who they'll be facing, they just don't want to leave luck to heaven. Even if they managed to bring any players, the Bears didn't have time to fit them into the team, and this is a duel where the guests should be a lot closer to winning with +10 difference, even if they don't break the margin. Details