Silkeborg-FC København

Sunday 20/7 17.00

Silkeborg are the other promoted club this season (together with Hobro). Opposite to Hobro, Silkeborg are a team with many experienced players (for instance Dennis Flinta, Jesper Mikkelsen and Frank Hansen). We expect that Silkeborg have a good chance of surviving in the Superliga. The addition of Nikolaj Agger (offensive midfielder/striker) from Vejle was a very good signing and Silkeborg looks like a complete team without any obvious weaknesses. They do lack a star player though and they will need a strong team effort to earn results. For the first match Silkeborg will be without regulars Daniel A. Pedersen and Simon Jakobsen. The pre-season friendlies offered mixed results. They started with an abysmal 0-5 defeat to Viborg, but have since rebounded with a win against Hobro and a draw against OB. FC Copenhagen have made a truckload of squad changes after a poor season last year. Six players who played a considerable part of last season’s second place have left (Braaten, Jacobsen, Kristensen, Bolaños, Vetokele and Margreitter). FC Copenhagen have signed six strong players for the upcoming season. Goalkeeper Stephan Andersen (24 caps for Denmark) upgrades the goalkeeping position. The defence has experienced a large makeover, where only left back Pierre Bengtsson is expected to be a repetition from last season. New signings Tom Høgli, Mathias Zanka and Per Nilsson will cover the remaining positions. They are all quality players with several caps for their respective nations.  The central midfield has been upgraded with the signing of Argentine Franco Mussis (injured for the first match though) and Ghanaian Daniel Amartey. Belgian Steve de Ridder has been bought for the attack. FC Copenhagen still have the star winger Nicolaj Jørgensen who should be back to full fitness after an injury in spring. The pre-season friendlies have been rather unimpressive, which is not unnatural with so many new players in the starting line-ups. FC Copenhagen could face some problems in the first few matches, but from then on, they should have the quality to be favourites for the league title.

While Silkeborg have made almost no changes to their squad, FC Copenhagen will probably field six new players. FC Copenhagen are clearly the better team, but may face problems due to the players being less acquainted with each other. First matches are difficult to bet on, but if we had to, we would go with Silkeborg in this one.

Idea: 1 (AH +1) – 1.84 at Ladbrokes