Varnamo and Oster will go head-to-head in a battle between the Allsvenskan's bottom two at Finnvedsvallen on Saturday afternoon.
Even at this early stage, Varnamo are big favourites to be relegated, having yet to win this season, but Oster are showing steady signs of improvement after a tricky spell earlier in the campaign.
Match preview
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It could not have gone much worse for Varnamo in their first seven games of the season, as they failed to pick up a single point, and propped up the Allsvenskan table.
Manager Juan Robledo did show signs of turning the tide slightly, holding both GAIS and Malmo to draws, but that was not enough to save him, as he was fired and replaced by Arne Sandsto.
Sandsto's first game in charge came last weekend, but saw Varnamo fall to another defeat, going down 2-0 at Hacken in one of their worst performances of the season so far.
That means the hosts enter the weekend five points adrift, and that gap could stretch to eight if they are beaten by second-bottom Oster in this one.
This will be the first meeting between the two sides since they met in the second tier four years ago, when both sides recorded 2-0 home wins over one another.
Varnamo were promoted in that campaign, but Oster had to wait a little longer to get their shot at the top flight, and they got over the line last season, finishing as Superettan runners-up.
It has been a challenging step up for Martin Foyston's men, as Oster lost six successive matches without scoring through April and at the start of May, but fortunes have improved over the past couple of weeks.
Oster have taken four points from matches against Goteborg and GAIS in their last two to close the gap on those outside the drop zone, and the club from Vaxjo are now just three points from safety ahead of facing the league's most out-of-form club.
It is clear where their problems lie though, because Foyston's men have failed to score in 60% of their Allsvenskan matches so far this season.
Team News
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Albin Lohikangas scored the goal that saved Varnamo from relegation last season, but he has been missing for much of 2025, and remains the home side's only absentee ahead of this clash.
Frank Junior Adjei is one of just two players to have scored more than once this season, but he has been unable to get a start, coming off the bench in each of Varnamo's last four matches, so it is potentially time to give him another opportunity from the outset.
Oster will have Daniel Ljung back from suspension for this trip, but Foyston will be without a number of first-team players due to injury.
Tatu Varmanen, Niklas Soderberg, Axel Lindahl and Lukas Bergquist are all on the sidelines with injury at present, but after two positive results, the visitors could look similar to how they started against GAIS last time out.
Varnamo possible starting lineup:
Keto; Larsson, Andersson, Grozdanic, Bjornstrom; Adjei, Le Roux, Wenderson; Alsalkhadi, Kalu, Zeljkovic
Oster possible starting lineup:
Wallinder; Gyamfi, Adolfsson, Kricak, Olsson; Seger, Christensen, No Soderberg; Tamminen, Aliev, Ljung
We say: Varnamo 0-0 Oster
Both clubs are near the bottom for a reason, and a lack of goals is a hugely contributing factor to that, with Oster only managing seven in their first 10.
Varnamo have just two points from their opening 10 games, and really need a win at home to the club just one place above them, but they have done little to suggest that one will come, and it could be a long season unless something drastically changes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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Andrew Delaney
