At some point after the second round of the Europa League group stage, both teams lost their way. Since then, each side has secured only one away victory, while Slavia Prague also managed a draw against Ajax. However, between them, they have collected just one point from their last four matches, meaning that regardless of the outcome here, neither team can progress to the play-offs—this will only be a consolation match.
Slavia Prague’s recent results suggest a pattern—whether it’s a win or a loss, matches tend to be closely contested. This applies to home and away fixtures, as well as both official and friendly matches. The only exception in their last eight games was a defeat to PAOK (0:2) last week. Otherwise, they have not registered any convincing wins in quite some time.
Malmö have been without official matches in Sweden since early December, when they last played in the Swedish Cup. Despite this, they held their own in their last two Europa League matches—first securing a high-scoring draw against Galatasaray, then suffering a narrow defeat to Twente last week. On the road, Malmö struggled to dominate, often dropping points, but they rarely suffered heavy defeats. The only exception was a heavy loss to Ferencváros in November. Since the summer break, 12 of their 14 away matches have been decided by a single-goal margin.
Slavia Prague have also lacked dominant performances, with their last comprehensive victory coming nine matches ago. Given both teams’ recent trends of tight scorelines, even if Malmö lose, it is unlikely to be by more than a single goal.
