Hvidovre – FC Copenhagen

Danish Superliga Round 5
Hvidovre, August 18, 19:00 CET

Behind the Danish champion FC Copenhagen is a stressful, tiring – but absolutely successful week, in which self-confidence for the next challenges is well-deserved.
The team from the Danish capital first managed to defeat Odense 2:1 on August 11 at home, with a goal by Mohamed Achouri in stoppage time. In this way, the maximum score of 12 points was preserved after four rounds of the Super League. Then, in a dramatic away match against the Czech Sparta in Prague, the rival was defeated in a penalty shoot-out - to advance to the next round of Champions League qualification.
The team from Copenhagen is definitely tired, but if there is an ideal rival to continue the fight for the top in the domestic championship, then it is Hvidovre on Friday.
Last season, the Hvidovre team managed to earn second place in the lower tier of the domestic competition (Division 1) - for the return to the elite Superliga after 26 years. Everything we have seen from this team so far, since the start of the new Super League season at the end of July, leads to the conclusion that this team will struggle to survive in domestic elite.
Hvidovre has only two points after four rounds, but only a 2:2 away draw against Randers, in a match played on July 30, was satisfactory. Overall, looking at the bad form Randers is in this summer - it's no wonder that the Hvidovre players made the best impression in that game.
At home, Hvidovre played one match in the Superliga – and completely disappointed in a 2:0 defeat against Aarhus, in a match played on August 6. So far, FC Copenhagen have had problems keeping a clean sheet in their victories since the start of the season - but they have a great opportunity to do so in this game.
In the matches against the Danish rivals, FC Copenhagen have played only two of the last 12 games in which at least three goals were not scored. It is to be expected that this score of at least three goals in the match will be repeated in this match in Hvidovre, a suburb of Copenhagen.
The teams have played only eight duels between each other so far, since Hvidovre has been in the lower tier of the competition for more than a quarter of a century - and FC Copenhagen has six wins and two draws. Interestingly, they played a match this year – in January, FC Copenhagen won a routine 4:1 in a preparatory duel for the spring part of the season - and announced their campaign for the title.
The guests, the absolute favorites of this duel, have no serious problems with injuries to important players - but it is expected that some of the first team players will be on the bench this time. Young stars, such as Icelandic striker Oskarsson and Swedish teenage midfielder Bardghji, will have the ideal opportunity to once again demonstrate their class – and show that they are already ripe for a more serious level of football than the Danish Superliga.
Hvidovre has not won in the last four games played, and interestingly, in the last five duels between these opponents, both teams scored goals. Now FC Copenhagen is the absolute favorite, with an excellent chance for a convincing triumph and another commanding performance.