Djurgården welcome Öster to Tele2 Arena with one eye firmly on their historic first-ever European semi-final against Chelsea next week. Despite having their weekend league fixture postponed to prepare, it’s hard to ignore how significant that Chelsea match is – and that should heavily shape how this tie plays out.

The Stockholm side are still missing key attacking threats in Aslund, Zugelj, and Fallenius, as well as midfield lynchpin Rasmus Schüller. In their 6 matches since the Allsvenskan returned, including the two legs against Rapid Vienna, they’ve been creating chances (1.56 xG per game) but converting at a painfully low rate (just 0.5 goals per game), and that’s unlikely to improve with such a depleted frontline. That said, they’ve looked much sharper at the back, conceding just 0.83 goals per game from 1.03 xG.

With Djurgården likely to rest players if they go ahead – particularly attackers like Nguen and Gulliksen – and look to simply manage the game, a 1-0 or 2-0 scoreline looks highly plausible. Stand-in keeper Manojlovic should also provide more security between the sticks than the error-prone Rinne.

Öster, meanwhile, are clearly a few levels below their hosts and have just 0.3 xG in each of their last two matches, both of which ended in 1-0 defeats. They’ll be without suspended key attacker Sanyang and midfield anchor Seger, which will severely limit their threat. Their 4-3 opening-day clash with Norrköping was the exception, not the rule, and their more recent performances suggest this one could be cagey and low in quality.

With Djurgården likely to grab an early goal and then conserve energy, Under 2.5 goals looks a very sensible angle.

Best odds can be found at Dafabet.