It is super even in the battle for the men’s Swedish gold, and on Wednesday two of the top teams will meet in Malmö.
Malmö FF comes closest from a crossroads in Varberg and has slipped two points behind AIK and Djurgården. AIK last took their eighth straight home victory, against IFK Norrköping.
A typical AIK victory, where the team was able to defend a 1-0 lead to victory at Friends arena.
The difference is big in away results, where the team has won three of eleven games so far this season.
– We need to take more points away from home. Our away game has not been good enough. If you compare with the home game, there has been a big difference in the distribution of points. Everyone is eager to change that statistic, says midfielder Sotirios Papagiannopoulos.
What is the difference?
– I really do not know. I have a bit of a hard time explaining it, but I also think that the audience has played a big part in our success at home, that you get pressure from all the fans. Now we will try to bring the same energy to the away matches.
AIK’s great strength during the season has been the defensive game.
– We have an attitude where we work really hard for each other, from the goalkeeper up to forwards. And I think we have succeeded in that, that the defensive game starts far up and so everyone does what we are supposed to do.
What will be important in your game against Malmö?
– That we continue to do the things we have so far been successful with. That we work hard for each other, rest defensively and then we will have opportunities to score goals.
Will the attacking game suffer when you are so strong in defense?
– No I do not think so. We have watched some happen that we need to improve and we will try to take it with us and develop our attacking game to try to create even more situations and even more goals, says Sotirios Papagiannopoulos.