Viking Backed To Strike Away at Lillestrom

Two Norwegian Eliteserien rearranged fixtures will be played early Thursday, with Viking away to Lillestrom in one of them. As the reigning champions, Viking have remained among the league’s elite this season, and their outstanding win rate has set them apart from the rest. Against this season’s surprise package Lillestrom, they should have no shortage of confidence as they chase all three points.

Lillestrom were relegated in 2024, but after returning to the top flight this season they have looked like a transformed side. After 13 league matches, they sit fourth with 8 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats. That said, their recent trend deserves attention. After opening the campaign with 4 wins and 1 draw from their first five league games, they have split their last eight matches evenly between wins and losses, underlining their inconsistency. Back-to-back wins over Fredrikstad and KFUM Oslo suggest an uptick in form, but both opponents are among the lower-ranked sides in the table, so those results carry limited weight. More tellingly, against Tromso and Bodo/Glimt this season, Lillestrom recorded 1 draw and 1 defeat and failed to score in either match. Facing another well-balanced side in Viking, they may be in for a similarly difficult evening.

Viking are currently second in the table with 10 wins and 2 defeats despite having played fewer matches, and their 83.33% win rate speaks for itself. The numbers are especially impressive: they average 2.58 goals per league game, the best scoring rate in the division, with leading attacker Z. Chapic spearheading a potent frontline. At the other end, they concede just 1 goal per match on average, which also reflects a solid defensive record. Before Lillestrom’s most recent relegation, Viking won 3 of the 4 league meetings between the sides across 2023 and 2024, losing only once. They also won both away games in that span by 3-1 and 4-1, and that clear psychological edge could be a major factor again here.