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The biggest strength for the Viennese is their running, and I'm fully convinced they'll use that today against one of the worst defenses of the league. The first match for both teams ended with 72 goals, and I don' t see a scenario that can allow 12 less than that. Both teams play with extremely fast rhythm, their offense is their best defense. The key for Barnbach is that they didn't change much, even with Miloš leaving, so we should expect a great looking match where there won't be a lack of goals. Details

The duels between these two teams are an Austrian classic, and hold a special place. The points are extremely important for both teams, but this match also brings prestige, something even more important. So, no surprise that the first match ended with 48 goals total, and there shouldn't be much more today, either. Mostly because Krems lost the left wing Schopf, probably the best left wing of the league, also the best scorer in HLA for years. Considering that absence, it's clear they'll be dedicated to the defense completely. To manage to get the revenge they want in this match, Polten will have to show much better performance in the defense than they did in the few previous rounds. It worked against Schwaz when they had 46 goals total, and Krems should be a similar opponent with their game style today. So, I expect another match at about 50 goals, 55+ doesn't seem like a likely scenario. Details

Lublin were around this margin with Buducnost last year and we all know what kind of pace Buducnost play on. Not much has changed this season, with Lublin's game in Romania with defense-oriented Baia Mare ending at 55 goals. The Poles displayed two game characteristics last year - great transition and disastrous defense. Larvik still don't seem to be at last season's defense level, but definitely do transition better than Baia Mare. They probably would have gone over this margin with Metz if the French team hadn't slowed the pace down for about 6 minutes. That is not what I expect Lubin to do and a game at 55 goals seems like a realistic outcome. Details

Everything abotu Ricoh is already known, a team that does only defense, and the only issue is what do their opponents have and how they want to beat them. YIF believe they have the defense to overpower Ricoh, and will also trust primarily their defense, which is nothing strange as they limited the current champion Alingsas to just 22 goals. I expect a tough battle in which the 45 goal margin looks impenetrable once again, so I don't believe the match will go anywhere near 50. Details

Pfadi used to cause problems for Otmar with their quality 3-2-1 defense, but today they're without Bajram and Svajlen, their key players, and I'm sure that the host will take advantage of that. Their defense is getting better and better, and their attack shouldn't have such problems considering the actual situation. Of course, we shouldn't forget that Pfadi had an away match in Nis this weekend, they had trouble on the way, and their rotation is somewhat shorter than usual - the away team should be at least a bit more tired than their opponents. In front of 2000 fans, Otmar is in a very good situation to take over the NLA lead position. Details

This is a key match for Wacker in the playoffs, and there is no doubt they will pay attention to their best quality - their defense. Against Bern, who have for one period of game used a stronger tempo, they managed to stop at 49 points, although goalkeeper Merz managed to score a single defend until the end of the first round. Today they are hosting a team who don't force the tempo, but also want to win thanks to their defense and by stopping the hoe shots Deschwanden and Isailovic. Since Amicita is one place above Wacker on the table, it's clear points mean a lot to them. Thus, we shouldn't expect a pretty game, but a match dominated with defense, with the attraction being less important. Details

Schwaz managed to stay below the margin in the last round and against Bergenz (52) who are rushing as fast as they can, and I don't see a reason why anything should change in today's match. Hard are a team dedicated to defense, and more so than their regional rival Bergent, especially because of the current injuries. The first match of the two teams stopped at 45 points, I don't think there will be an additional 10 this time, especially because Schwaz are very motivated, their defense is great nd they won't give up just like that on the court of the current champions. Details

55 and 57 goals were scored in their head-to-head games last season, but a lot of changes have happened since. Both teams lost a number of key players, with Drott not surprisingly still oriented on a fast-pace game. That speed they possess might be of great help today offense-wise with the opponent plying a tough, often 3-2-1 defense. That's great for Drott, much better than the shallow 6-0 Kristianstad and Ystads used against them. Hammarby, on the other hand, decided to put more focus on left back Hannisch and on running after losing a few top-level shooters. Coach Matsson said that their efficiency has to be much better than it was in the Savehof game the last round. He was not worried with the defense conceding 33 goals though. That is the proof of what kind of a game they hope for today. The teams are expected to get very close to the 60-goals margin and maybe even to go over it. Details

Hats off to Guif for beating Sonderjyske and Lugi, but I think those wins were just result of circumstances that cannot repeat in Denmark. The Danes should be able to win even in Sweden. In Denmark, there should really be no problems since Sonderjyske did well even against teams better than Guif home. Especially since EHF Cup group staged caused Guif a lot of problems two seasons ago (injuries, bad results in the domestic league), and they now don't seem like a team willing to get through to the next round. Details

Hypo decided to put all their efforts into training the young Austrain players instead of bringing the new signings on after losing almost every starting line-up player. New coach Kovacs says that the most important thing for the team at this point is winning the home games. They've not done well away so far, struggling with weak Dornbirn in the national championship away. That is a clear sign of what they are like currently. Krim underwent a lot of changes over the summer as well, but better-quality players joined their team. Their ambition is, on top of that, higher than than Hypo's, which means they should be able to win today. Besides, Bon said that the Austrians are the easiest opponent in the group, and Krim cannot afford to fail home. Details

Skovde are coming to Stockholm today without their starting (and only) middle back Lake. I remember well what his injury caused last year: Wremer's taking over at the middle back position resulted in a string of bad results for Skovde. I expect a similar outcome today, especially because of Ricoh's good defense, that simply has to take advantage of the opponent's predicament if they plan to reach the play off. Ricoh lost their first head-to-head this season convincingly because their game fell apart in the last 15 minutes. I don't see that happening today, on the contrary, I expect the home team even more motivated to make up for the firs head-to-head defeat and record their second win this season. Details

Thun hosts a local derby that regularly carries a lot of emotion with it, so I expect a match similar to the one they had against Otmar in the last round. Defense is the strong suits of both teams while points from this match are hugely important, especially for Bern, who could say goodbye to upper ranking if they lose this one. This mean we should not worry about them going all out on defense, while home pivot Friedli also made it very clear defense will be the key to success. In a duel of two defensively focused team I don't see this going above 50 goals, just like last season. Back then only one of their matches went to 54, while the other three were at 46, 43 and 46. Details

Bregenz are folloing up from a strong EHF Cup match against Skjern from Denmark. The home team had just three days to prepare for this match and their leadership is rather worried for that reason. Why? Because the away team are Schwaz, a team they often struggle against and who eliminated them from the Cup last year. The guests from Tirol play quality defense and manage to neutralize the usually mighty Bregenz offense. Schwaz just won the most decisive victory so far this season, which left them highly motivated but also showed they can do better. Their defense is consistently good, but with Marković back their offense also improved by a class. As Bergenz managed to cover this handicap only against Linz, Barnbach and St. Polten (and by precisely six goal against those last two), all bottom HLA teams, I doubt they will load up the net of Schwaz, a much better team than the aforementioned ones, as their style is also much less favorable for the Vorarlberg team. Details

A great derby that goes way back so not only points are at stake here. There is no doubt that emotions will be running high, which means defenses will be dominant in this match. Savehof's defense improved greatly compared to the start of the season, having conceded 23, 26, 25, and 25 goals in the last four matches. They face defense-specialist RIK today. Hammarby (30) and Malmo (28) scored more points than any other team against them, while no one else managed to score more than 25. Hammarby have been at a high pace the whole season, while Sivertsson decided that Malmo are to play faster pace game as well. Savehof have gone the other way around - they were trying to outrun the opponent early in the season, and now pay more attention to their defense performance. If we add the fact RIK are quite a slow team, more than 55 goals in such an emotion-charged game don't seem likely to be scored. Details

Otmar place most pressure on the defense, it's the key to success. After a warning they got from Stafa, they'll probably place even more attention in that direction and close all ways to their goal. Thun are a similar team, very dirty, hit hard. They showed in the last round that they can win like that, they conceded only 19 goals. For them, this is one of the most important matches of the first part of the season because if Otmar win, they'll lose the big five points advantage they have. For the same reason, the home team see this match as crucial. So, even more tensions can be expected, in the duel between two teams dedicated to the defense in these circumstances, you don't expect a festival of goals. Details

Nantes are undefeated in the French championship, which the experts agree is only getting better as the time goes by. The hosts are a top team, with at least two choices for every position. On the other hand, while they have quite a good team, Varazdin are not a top team at the moment. More importantly, they went to France without their only good goal keeper Loncar. That means that young Spikic and Mestirc (joined from the second tired Trnovac) will be tending their goal today. That is definitely good news for the mighty French offense. Varazdin also can't count on right back Srsen, leaving them with slow Herman or three righties for that position only. Nantes managed to limit offense-oriented Montpellier to 27 goals, which doesn't leave the Croatian team with a lot of hope. Also, Nantes have no championship games between the two EHF cup games, allowing them to focus on it completely. I think they won't have problems settling this game. Details

I've had quite a doubt deciding between the counter-handicap at Ricoh and the total goals under. Absolutely everything at Richoh is about defense and their performance today will be no exception. Coach Linnell doesn't seem to care about his team's poor offense performances. Lugi are also among one of the best defenses in the league. No team managed to scored more than 26 goals (Kristianstad) against them, which means that we're in for a tough match, just like the one with RIK the other day. Details

Alignsas high pace almost managed to get the defense-oriented Flensburg over this margin. They now meet Kolding, a Danish team currently much better than the Germans when it comes to offense (scored 35 goals against Flensburg). Alingsas' defense is some two levels below Flensburg's defense, and Kolding should easily get over the 30-goal-margin today. Home team's offense, however, seems to be doing much better than defense so we can expect them to score quite a few goals. Everything suggests that a lot of goals will be scored in this game, and the team's overs are just as good a choice as the total goals over. Details

Such quotas are a consequence of Malmo's three consecutive losses. But, we should keep in mind that they were against Ystads, Lugi and Kristianstadt who are candidates for the top of the league table, and besides, Malmo could've reached victory in all three games. RIK, on the other hand, are one of the teams who could reach Kvalserien which means they are, quality-wise, quite below the teams Malmo have been playing against so far. While the away team have only two to three quality players (Sjostrand, Arnesson, Stojcevski), the home team has a greater number of those. Malmo is not only better on an individual level, but they also have a lot better rotation possibilities, and an additional motive is the female team playing after them today, so they should in no way allow their opponents an egal match. A lot more realistic seems the hosts' win with 4-5 goals of difference, especially since the middle back Tonessen is back in the game, and with him the whole team plays better. Also, it's important to note that Malmo's defense specialist Andersson is also completely recovered for today's match, and RIK is, offense-wise, a very limited team so this should be another difficulty for them. Details

Bern and Gossau are both in a rather nasty situation, points-wise, but there is a huge difference in quality between them. The point is that Bern haven't given their best performances yet this season, while Gossau cannot parry most of the first league teams even with their best performance, especially in away matches which are their sore spot. Today we have a situation in which the home team simply must win, and Bern's coach is eager for a quality performance, not just point. As one of the poorer teams, Gossau should be just what the doctor ordered after a few disappointing scores, and a rather decisive victory by a significantly better team seems realistic. Details