Preview: Valerenga Fotball vs. Molde - prediction, team news, lineups

Valerenga Fotball will be aiming to remain outside of the Norwegian Eliteserien relegation places by beating Molde on Saturday.

The visitors, meanwhile, could move as high as third in the table by securing an away victory.

Match preview

Having finished in the top 10 positions of Norway's top flight in all bar two seasons since gaining promotion from the second tier in 2001, Valerenga could be in store for their first relegation battle for some time.

The Bohemians did manage to put an end to a losing streak of four league matches by drawing 0-0 away to Tromso IL last weekend, while they advanced to the semi-finals of the Norwegian Cup by beating Brann 3-2 in midweek.

However, it is almost two months since they last won in the league, which has seen them fall to within one point of the relegation zone ahead of hosting Molde at Intility Arena on Saturday.

As such, head coach Geir Bakke - who famously led one of his previous clubs Sarpsborg 08 to the Europa League group stage in 2018 - and his players will be determined to build on their morale-boosting victory in the cup in midweek, with all three points required to ensure that they have no chance of falling into the bottom three this weekend.

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Reigning champions Molde, meanwhile, are attempting to hang in there in the race to retain their title, which appears an unlikely ambition with runaway leaders Bodo/Glimt siting 12 points clear of them at the summit.

Erling Moe's side recently threw away a two-goal lead against their rivals to draw 2-2, although they had worked wonders to engineer that position for themselves in the first place given that their goalkeeper Jacob Karlstrom had been sent off when the scoreline was goalless after just 17 minutes.

Molde have bounced back in excellent style to record comfortable wins over Brann and Sarpsborg, with the latter seeing them join Valerenga in the last four of the Norwegian Cup after goals from Eric Kitolano and Emil Breivik within the opening five minutes helped them coast through.

With seven wins from their last 10 league outings, Moe will be determined for his players to keep cutting the deficit to Bodo/Glimt down across the coming weeks, with finishing within the top two positions for the seventh successive season certainly being a realistic target for the club.

Team News

Valerenga could be without Aaron Kiil Olsen, Storm Strand-Kolbjornsen and Daniel Hakans due to injury, while Leonard Zuta is suspended for an accumulation of bookings after receiving a yellow card against Tromso.

Stefan Strandberg could return to the heart of the hosts' defence in Zuta's absence, but Bakke is unlikely to make many alterations after claiming a crucial win against Brann on Wednesday.

Molde, meanwhile, will travel without Martin Ellingsen and Eirik Ulland Andersen due to ongoing knee issues.

Like his forthcoming counterpart, Moe may see no reason to change a winning team after dispatching high-flying Brann in their last game, and he will be hoping to overtake them in the table by winning here.

Valerenga Fotball possible starting lineup:

Sjoeng; Hedenstad, Kjelsen, Strandberg, Juklerod; Ofkir, Riisnaes, Strand, Bjordal, Thorvaldsen; Jatta

Molde possible starting lineup:

Petersen; Haugan, Bjornbak, Hagelskjaer; Linnes, Breivik, Mannsverk, Grodem, Haugen; Kitolano, Eriksen

We say: Valerenga Fotball 1-2 Molde

After making a poor start to the season, Molde have returned to their best across recent weeks, and they will be determined to reduce the significant gap between themselves and Bodo/Glimt at the top of the table.

Valerenga, on the other hand, have picked up just one point from their last five league games and appear set for a difficult campaign. We expect the visitors to work hard for all three points on Saturday.

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