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Even though Oldenburg are an "over" team, today that gets out of context. First, it's a derby duel of the 18th round between teams who are only two points apart and where points matter a lot. By winning, Oldenburg would be one of the four teams who will fight for the title this season, and Leipzig would be one point away from the leading Metzingen. Leipzig have the third best defense in the championship, five tied unders for today's margin, three deep unders in the duels against Metzingen (23-26, 24-25, 25-27), but just like Oldenburg, they are a good offensive team. What's most important for today, maybe, is the fact that Leipzig will be without their best player Kudlacz. Kudlacz is Leipzig's best scorer with 86 goals (70 from the floor) who didn't miss a single match this season and who almost plays for the entire 60 minutes. It's also known that Oldenburg are playing without three of their long injured players (Wenzl, C. Muller and N. Jensen). In a situation when we have a match of great point value and with decimated rosters on both sides, it's hard to expect that we will see the same epilogue as from the first head-to-head in Leipzig at the start of the season (Leipzig won 36-27). Especially since Leipzig are withou Kudlacz who scored nine goals in that first match. Details

Thuringer took a step back in their attempt of defending the title as they lost home to Bietighem easily on Wednesday (26-23). Still, they are in control since they played two games less than top table Metzingen, who have two points more. Thuringer are expected to react today and be more aggressive. Their coach said this game is what all of their focus will be at. Two players who were out with injuries the last three weeks got back on Wednesday and are expected to make a good contribution today. Bad Wildungen are under no pressure and have 7 points more than teams in danger zone. The first game in Thuringer finished with a 23-gal difference (46-23) this season. Those from last season (37-22, 36-28) were not much different. It seems like the defending champions are in for another double-digit win. Details

Only a win can leave one of these teams with realistic chances of staying the league and Rosengarten definitely don't deserve to be the favorites, Yes, they have one win from the last 10 games and that Goppingen got only a point in that period of time but Goppingen also won the first h2h easily (27-22). When we compare where the players were back then and where they are now, the value at Goppingen gets even bigger. Goppingen had 12 players on the roster in the first h2h, while three didn't play with injuries. There was only one pivot on the team, while some backfield players weren't completely healthy. Even so, they settled the game pretty early on (14-8). The home team's players had injury struggles before this game. They have been without point Steinfurth and left back Despotovska since the start of this year. Middle back Prior was out all week with back ache, while Limberg and Kaiser had the flu. Let's just add that Goppingen acquired Hrbkova for the right back position. She turned out to be the leader in their offense (25 goals in three games) and is currently also playing defense. To sum up, the home team don't have enough experience and players and cannot be the favorites only because of home court advantage. The option of Goppingen not losing is good as well, alongside this handicap. Details

Jusst before the last regular season game, Metz have no motivation as they already secured the top spot and a direct qualification to playoff semis. Besancon won in a direct clash against Nice last round (29-26) to secure spot five and playoff quarterfinals. Two points from this game might get them even higher but that probably won't happen since Issy in spot three and Nimes in spot 4 play against unmotivated rivals. In accordance to that, both teams say that this match is more or less unimportant.
- Keeping the players healthy and injury-free is the main priority in the Metz game, especially the ones we're counting in for playoffs. Some will get some more rest than normally - Besancon's coach said. Metz talk about this match as a chance for celebrating the top spot and as a great chance to test their game ahead of the rest of the season, in which they're set to play 3 semis - league Cup, the french Cup and playoff semifinals in the league. The result from the first head-to-head this season (Metz won 27-35) is another argument for a game with 2-3 goals over this margin. The results from their head-to-head games from the previous season are good for it as well (27-24, 42-42) Details

Two games before the end of regular season, an important game for both teams that are fighting for the second position, the position that leads directly into the play-off semi-final. Even though a draw also suits the home team and defending champions, who had a three point advantage over Issy before this game, there are several reasons why we should believe they will go into today's game with full strength. Before the game against Larvik in the Champions League three days ago, coach Frederic Bougeant said that that game will serve them as a preparation for much more important game against Issy that awaits them on Wednesday, and the same happened on the field. His team lost (28-31) that last Champions League games this season, they had no motivation but they kept high intensity and demonstrated great offensive performance. They will be motivated today, they want revenge for the defeat from the first part of the season, and they are complete which cannot be said about the team from Paris who are still euphoric after the spectacular win over Erd on Saturday in quarter-final return fixture. Issy secured a spot in the semi-final with a counterattack goal ten seconds before the end. Stine Oftedal scored that goal and she will miss today's game due to injury she suffered after the game. Today's game will be the first time Issy will play without their best player this season. If we add that Issy will also be without their best scorer, left-back Jovanovic and pivot Fehri, they will have a hard time to resist the attacks from the French champions. We should also mention that last season Fleury were convincing in both games they played at home in Orleans (30-24, 31-24). Tonight's game will probably end the same way. Details

The handicap margin and the odds at the visitors' win here do not reflect their results and overall performances at the moment. Their great form is now at its peak. They are on a 10-game winning run in the German championship and the EHF Cup. They're in spot two and three with Thuringer in the German championship and have only a point more than top table Leipzig, who also played a game more. They beat that Leipzig three times last week - once in the championship (26-23), and twice in EHF cup QF (25-24, 27-25). That saw them get through to semis. Blomberg, on the other hand, sit pretty in spot 9 with 9 points more than they need to avoid danger zone. They're a young team but don't have ambition for Europe this season. Their previous results area reflection of that. Da Silva Vieira won't be on Blomberg with an injury today. She scored 20 goals in her first three games since joining late in 2015 and did well in defense too. The first clash of the season finished with a win for the home team 39-23 (Metzingen missed 4 seven-meter throws, Blomberg missed one). Metzingen won all 4 head-to-head games of the past two seasons. Details

The margin is set as if this was a normal game, which it isn't. Viborg will try and make up for the 12-goal deficit from the first leg. They say they will start fierce and see where it gets them. Viborg are expected to play fast, at least in the first half. That should result in a much better efficiency compared to the first leg but it should also result in more technical errors which Holstebro, on of the best transitions, will punish. Another reason for us to expect over 50 goals is the fact these teams meet on Thursday in Danish championship. Viborg are one point ahead of Holstebro (spot 4) and that meeting can have a big effect on how things will turn out before the start of the playoffs. That ius a much more important game at this point and that is why we can expect a much more relaxed approach today. Details

Vardar Junior came to Ukraine with three goals advantage from the first match from Skopje this week (22-19). It could've been more considering how many sure shots both teams missed, and technical fouls made. The Ukrainians are now the favorites for getting placed to the Challenge Cup semifinals, and there are a few reasons for that. First, their experience. Their starting lineup are 4-5 years older than Vardar's, and the home court will bring them the calm they need and lacked in Skopje. That means their fastbreaks will be more efficient. They base them on the defense and their typical set offense. Individually, the Ukrainian players already played for the senior national team. They also use more options offensively, Vardar's defense struggled against the Ukrainian offense before, and that will stand out even more today. Vardar's junior team got placed to the quarterfinals thanks to playing all the previous matches at home, so this will be their first real away match. Karpaty beat the more experienced and better Swedish team here last season (H65 Hoors 34-28). So, Vardar can't do more than they did in the first duel, I expect Karpaty to be more convincing offensively, with a lot fewer mistakes, so they should win by at least 4-5 goals advantage. Details

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Ferencvaros are doing brilliantly home. They have not lost a single home game in Champions league this season and won 5 out of 6 by 3 or more goals. They have one draw with Rostov, who won all the games so far. let's just say that even Gyori lost here in the Hungarian championship. Gyori are one of the main contenders for the CL title. When makes the difference for Ferencvaros are fans who constantly put pressure on the opponents throughout the game. Games against Romanin teams like Baia Mare just make them more motivated. Also, the Romanians will be without starting right back Geiger, who is their fourth best scorer in CL with 34 goals. She's not the key player but is the top option for that position. She scored 14 goals in three games of 2016. Unlike in the first game in Romania, the Hungarians are well rested and motivated t get back at Baia mare for the convincing defeat early this month. Also, they could avoid the meeting with Buducnost in the potential QFs. Details

Granted, they will be faced with the top Danish defense tonight but we cannot miss out on this kind of a situation when Nykobing are concerned. There are a few strong arguments for that. First of all, Nykobing played only one match with under 52 goals in the last 10 rounds. 8 were with 55 or more goals. They take more shots than any other team and have the fastest transition and by far the fastest scorer in the league. The first match in early November finished at 52 goals. There were 100 shots on both sides and a lot of fastbreaks as well as 3 misses seven-meter shots. Nykobing's coach says there will be a chance in defense, that they will play a deep aggressive zone, which may give room for easy goals from counter attacks but it could also leave more room for the opponents. Looking at the visitors' last 4 games, they race offensively above average but that they have lost power in defense. Two of their games finished over this margin. They were well under this margin in the last Champions league match with Bucharest (51 goals). But that was a match that decided who goes through to quarterfinals. This one won't be so important and the margin set at least two goals higher than this one would be more accurate here. That was the case before their first h2h of the season. Details

Just look at Sonderyjske's results in the second half of the season, from the start of 2016. That is when it became clear they were headed for relegation. 7 out of their 8 goals finished with 54 or more goals, and the home games with 56 or more goals. The home team don't have the quality or experience to do anything against the top Swedish team. They are trying to make up for that through fast transition but that's not enough. Silkeborg aren't too efficient but this is their chance to change that. The first match in Silkebrog finished at 51 goals but things were different back then. This could be a clash between the 4th and the 5th top scorers in the league (Madsen 109- Troelsen 108 goals), which is another thing going for us in this match. Details

We can draw some conclusions only after comparing their last game to the same rivals, Lade Togliatti. Astrakhanochka beat Lada 28-24 seven days ago home in the championship and that same Lada trashed Zvezda 43-30 home. The result from that defeat is not the only problem - the injury struggles are a much bigger one. Zvezda have 6 players who are out, a few of them are important. Their pivot and left wing have to play for the entire 60 minutes and neither goal keepers are doing great. Letps just add that Astranochka has a much better choice of good players and that one of the top Russian backfield players is back after almost two years. Details

In the quarter-final match between Odense, eighth team of the Danish championship, and Corona Brasov, who are currently third in Romania, there are a lot of similarities, but also a couple of details which favor Denmark. These are teams with very good goalkeepers. Brasilian Masson is at Odense's goal, and Olariu and Dedu are at Corona's. Good and physically dominant back shooters are also present (Adler and Haugsted at home, Zamfir and Catas with the visiting team). But both of the latter ones are not completely ready for today. Zamfir has groin problems Cartas has a broken nose because of which she missed the last two home championship matches, wing Laura Chiper has knee problems. All three came to Denmark, but Brasov's intel tells us that since Monday they have been in the recovery process. Left bak Briscan has also been injured for a longer period, and she's not in the roster today. Odense are in a great result period, they tied four wins in the Danish championship, the last one was in the middle of the week against Team Holstebro (26-19), and two weeks ago they beat the Danish defending champions Midtjylland (21-18). Next to the fact that their team is almost complete (only missing left wing Baekhoej) and that they're playing at home, from a tactical point of view I see their advantage in their mentality, their counter-attacks and a good solution for the pivot forward (Sarah Iversen) who is currently in top shape. To sum up, it's enough for Odense to go take a rematch in seven days with at least some three or four goals of advantage from today. Details

The quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup is bringing a duel of Russian teams - Zvenigorod and Lada Togliatti, who in their roster have five current Russian national team representatives, and they're favorites in this for the semi-finals. What'sa great option, next to Lada's win, is that we will see another game where goals will be abundant, since Zvezda are a team in which wing players lead the word, Marenikova and Uskova, while Lada are a team who force quick transition. Both teams have better offense than defense. Their first and only match in the Russian championship, in the final days of 2015 ended with 71 goals (29-42). Zvezda shot at goal 67 times, Laada 57. By this quarter-finals they reached after a double leg against Ankara Yeimahalla in which Zvezda were better by a goal (26-33, 33-25), and both matches ended above today's offered margin. Lada were better in the previous two rounds than German Oldenburg (37-24, 30-34) and the Turkish Ardesen (49-28, 31-22) with three deep overs above 60 goals. Zvezda have a more important match on Wednesday in the Russian championship for fourth place. In the previous 15 days they had four matches in the championship and in the cup, they don't have high goals in this competition, which is why we should expect a more open match with no pressure against Lada. The margin is widely available everywhere. Details

At three rounds before the basic part of the season, Pogon are defending the first place on the table in a duel against the tenth Beskid Nowy Sacz whom getting among the top eight is theory and who will probably play in the play-out playoffs. The visiting team have four matches in ten days, and all four against the favored teams from top four. The firt one was less than 48 hours against Vistal Gdyn (26-36). What's worth mentioning not just for this match, is for all those who have so far played against favored teams, and that's that they don't play with respect, they force the match for one more goal, they can boast with offensive efficiency (among the top five in the championship), their defense is weaker, and all matches against Top Five teams ended at 56+ goals. All of them, except the one from the first part of the season against Pogon which ended with Pogon's win 28-21. What's important is that in that match Nowy Sacz played without their main playmaker and scorer, Ukrainian Smbatian, and that two back players also didn't play. In this match, two days ago against Vistal, the Ukrainian recorded nine goals. In a situation when the visiting team came in order to try to outplay the opponents without any sort of a result motive, the offered margin looks at least two to three goals under a realistic one. Details

Rostov accomplished their goal two games before the end of the main stage of the Champions League - the first place in group 1 cannot be jeopardized, so it is realistic to expect that the Russian champions will not play at their usual high intensity in today's game against Fleury and in the one in a week at Thuringer. In favor of that is information that all five of their games this month ended over the offered margin (3 in the Russian championship, both in the CL) and that they had a slightly more relaxed approach for one half of every game, and the same happened in the last game against Kuban which finished at 63 goals. Those most interested in this game are E. Ilina, third scorer of the Champions League with 63 goals (14 less than leader Pineau who played a game more) and Managrova who scored 53 so far, and who could come near the Top 5 with good efficiency today. Fleury need the win to stay in the game for the Champions League quarter-final, but the French don't have a say in it, Rostov have, and if the expectations are that they will go easy in the defense today, we can expect a quality response in the offense from Barbosa, Niombla and Fleury's other players. Details

I'm going for an under for the first time in a Niykobing match in the championship. They are to play Aarhus, who are in trouble and will be under a lot pressure for the rest of the season. They need at least 5 points from the remaining 6 games. They are without top scorer Okkels, middle back Ohlendorff and right Christensen which is a problem since three out of 6 starters play almost entire games on both ends of the floor. Aarhus' defense is rather good and capable of standing up Nykobing's offense. Aarhus need to slow the pace down because they'll otherwise be in trouble. They need these points and the only way to get them is through smart and patient game on both ends of the floor. The first match finished at 55 goals after only 24 got scored at half time. Aarhus will be without Okkels who scored 8 goals in the first match. The 55,5 margin is available online. Details

Larvik already beat Vipers twice this season, both times home. First time 30-20 in the championship in September and 29-20 in Norwegian Cup QFs a month later. I went with a handicap at Viper back then as well because they were complete unlike in the first game. They were close for 45 minutes but then didn't' score a single goal in the last 10 minutes, while Larvik had a lot of fastbreaks and ended up winning by 10 goals.

Following Larvik's win in Germany last Sunday (28-20 in CL), they are now only two points short of Ferencvaros, who are in spot two. They will play the Hungarians home next weekend and that game is clearly on everyone's mind. They came here with 12 players and without left wing Mork, right wing Kurtovic and goal keeper Toft. There is one goal keeper on the team (Hasanic), one left wing, one right wing, two pivots and 7 backfield players. Some players might play in different positions to stay fresh, which could reflect on the result here. Vipers have no struggles, they have the biggest choice of players after Larvik and an international roster. Yes, their form is in a bit of a decline after two straight defeats but they won 8 out of 9 games before that. Vipers didn't deserve to lose to Larvik by so many goals in the last games. It seems the situation now is perfect for them to put up a good fight and to finish 5-6 goals short. Details

Baia Mare are set to play Romanian championship game against Valce less than 48 hours after their trip to France. They beat Fleury in Orleans in what was a very tough game. Pineau scored the goal in the very last second to get Baia Mare the extremely important two points. They have the Champions League match in Germany against Thurnger this Friday. It's a race for the quarterfinals, which means that is the priority now. As previously in these kind of situations, Pineau, Abbingh and a few other starters are expected to get less time on the floor. The subs are expected to play key roles. Baia mare won the first head-to-head of the season by 10 goals away when they had no CL games. Valce are at least one level below them in quality but they do have a few well-experienced Romanian internationals. They can stand up to the big favorites for at least 35-40 minutes. Now when Baia Mare are forced into playing right after getting back from France, the visitors can finish this 5-8 short, which would be an honorable defeat. Details