Lillestrom – Odd Grenland 05-04-2025

Åråsen must become a fortress again!

Lillestrøm enters the OBOS league with a clear goal: to get promoted straight back. With one of the strongest squads in the league and a budget that far exceeds most of its competitors, dominance is expected – especially at home. Åråsen has historically been a feared arena for its opponents, and if direct promotion is to be achieved, that status must be restored from the first kick of the ball.

The pressure is on LSK

As one of the big clubs in Norwegian football, there is no way around it: LSK are the favorites this year. But with the favorite stamp also comes the pressure to deliver every single week. The relegation was a big disappointment for both the club and the supporters, and it is now up to the players and coaches to show that they belong in the Eliteserien.

Lillestrom

That a lot has happened in LSK in recent years is probably a strong understatement, after being promoted from the OBOS league with Geir Bakke and Petter Myhre at the helm, they actually ended up in 4th place the first season after promotion, and this was probably the best position LSK has had since the early 2000s when Uwe Rôsler took them to silver in the series.

Geir and Petter continued into the 2023 season and they were still in the top half when perhaps the biggest bombshell in Norwegian football in decades went off this summer. Geir Bakke suddenly became available for Vålerenga….(by Norwegian standards this is probably the worst thing you can do in terms of transfers, and there were major media reports all over the country for many weeks after this became known) The result was that sporting director Simon Mesfin had to take over the team for a few matches before a new head coach was in place, and in the end the club ended up with Eirik Bakke as the new coach for the rest of the season, and they ended up in an honorable 6th place.
So before the run-up to the 2024 season it became clear that LSK had found their new head coach in the Swedish Andreas Georgsson and his assistant Robin Asterhed. Here Lillestrøm had really found gold, Georgsson came from a set-piece coaching job in the Premier League, and Asterhed came from the academy at Malmö FF.

Now a new course was to be set in Lillestrøm, now LSK was to become more ball-possessing, and long balls were to be replaced with inside wings and full-backs who would come on the outside. For a long time it looked as if this was a style of play that LSK perhaps didn't quite have the manpower for, but during the home game against KFUM and the Cup game against Godset at Marienlyst last summer, you could suddenly start to see the outlines of an LSK that had really figured things out.
Then you started to look up the table again, but then what had happened exactly 1 year ago happened… Andreas Georgsson had been contacted by Manchester United, they were looking for a new set-piece coach, and then most people who are interested in football understand that you can't say no to such opportunities.
So then LSK was again without a head coach, but this time they chose to move up assistant coach Robin Asterhed, but even though he might have been the one with the best football head, he had zero experience being a head coach, so it was probably 3-4 games as boss, before suddenly David Nielsen strolled into the gates at Åråsen.
Now things were really going to get better here, and David got both the Kanarifansen fans and the players to mobilize in the home game against RBK, this one ended in a draw, and this was probably the only thing Nielsen got in his 4 games, before yet another new coach would enter the gates at Åråsen, this time it was Dag Eilif Fagermo who would try his luck, and for us around the club this was now starting to become like a parody, how is a group of players going to be able to deal with what is happening now? The answer was given in black and white when it all culminated in relegation. Again. And now the board should really feel the frustration of the fans, banners were hung around Lillestrøm where they demanded the resignation of the sports director, as well as other board members, and a report has been prepared where they have gone through the way forward, and now a new strategic plan is going to be put in place, so then we will see which path LSK intends to take in the years to come 🙂

Ahead of the 2025 season, responsibility fell to Hans Erik Ødegaard from Sandefjord and with him on the team he has brought Eirik Mæland, who comes from his job as an assistant under Erling Moe in Molde, and so far it actually seems that they have regained some order at LSK, and now it seems that the players have regained the belief that they can win football matches again, even though they only managed 2-2 in the series opener against Aalesund and Kjetil Rekdal, you could actually see a morale that you haven't seen in many months. Because where you ended up below last year and couldn't come back, you actually had to dig deep both once and twice at the Color Line stadium this Monday to bring the 1st point back to Lillestrøm.
But you can't afford to lose that many points if the goal of promotion is to be achieved, and I'm convinced that at home against ODD on Saturday in front of 6-7000 spectators, the home team will probably show a sharper side than what was the case on Monday.
Now LSK has become a little more direct than they have been in recent years, the 4-3-3 formation with a little more outside the wings is back again, and at the top Thomas Lehne Olsen looks like one of Norway's best strikers again. In addition, you can add a midfield trio consisting of a lot of experience, which can boast names like Kitolano, Hoff, Krygård and Karlsbakk. So you understand that expectations are high ahead of this season.

ODD Grenland

What about the guests? Here there has also been a season last year that culminated in relegation, and although the stable is almost the same as last year, Espen Ruud has said goodbye before this season, and in has been brought in 24 year old Jørgen Sjøl from Lyn. Odd opened the series with a 2-1 win against newly promoted Skeid at home on their own artificial turf, and it was perhaps not that impressive because Skeid had the most ball possession and chances, the statistics showed 6-4 in shots on goal, so on Saturday the level will probably have to step up a bit against a Lillestrøm team that will show the home fans what they stand for.

Otherwise, there is little new in this Odd team, Andre Hansen guards the cage at the back, Solholm and Hagen are still the stoppers that the coach trusts, in the middle it is still Owusu, Jørgensen and Syver Aas who will tie the team together, and up front Midtskogen and Bilal Nije will probably still cause problems for the opponents.

Conclusion

Since 2021, these teams have met 5 times at Åråsen and it has ended with 3-1-1 in favor of the home team and I will probably fall against LSK this time too.

OBOS League at 16:00: Lillestrøm – Odd: Lillestrøm wins (1.70)

Alternative bets:

OBOS Ligaen at 16:00: Lillestrøm – Odd: LSK over 1.5 team goals (1.63)

OBOS Ligaen at 16:00: Lillestrøm – Odd: Over 2.5 goals in the match (1.62)