Viking – Bryne – 25-10-2025

It's time for the Rogaland derby again when Viking hosts Bryne on Saturday afternoon. The match time is in every way set for a festive day, in both camps, but possibly with a slightly better atmosphere in the victorious camp after the match. It will be a real treat for both fans and players, with a guarantee of excitement and a good atmosphere! As expected, the tickets were snatched up minutes after they were released, to such an extent that Viking's ticket system crashed, so here's just having fun for the lucky ones who secured a ticket! In terms of sport, these two teams are in different worlds at the moment. Viking is fighting for a much-awaited gold, knowing full well that Bodø/Glimt will in no way give anything away for free, while Bryne is fighting hard to keep their place, currently placed in the qualifying place. Bryne's remaining matches for the season are about survival, so it doesn't help that Brann and Bodø/Glimt are waiting for the next rounds after Viking. Therefore, there must be some hope that a derby can live its own life, anything can happen, but Viking is the better team here. Because Viking has far more forgiving opposition towards the end of the season here, after the derby there are 4 games waiting that all have to be won if there is to be a chance for gold. In short, we have two teams that have a lot to play for on Saturday – this will be a super Saturday in the name of football!

Viking – Goal (and corner) guarantees – does it really hold up?

Viking has been pretty solid after a few banana peels in July, apart from the 3-3 match against Sarpsborg which has long since been replaced. Brann was crushed 3-0 while Tromsø was too weak in the north, where Viking took a 3-1 win and 3 well-deserved points south. And now Viking shows that they are not absolutely dependent on key players such as Tripic, who was not in Tromsø due to childbirth. They were drilled all week with the predicted team that would face Tromsø, and the 11 selected delivered on all notes. Viking needs that kind of breadth to have any hope of winning gold. Against Bryne, at the time of writing, it appears that there is full availability in the squad and the coaching duo will thus be able to select the cream of the crop for this important match.

Viking have now scored 3 goals per game in the last 3 games. In addition, they have become even closer at the back, especially at home. Lyse Arena has been Viking's fortress this season, where they are 1 point ahead of Bodø in terms of "home table". They have a strong goal difference of 30-13 and are mostly keeping it close. Neither Brann nor Molde, who are the latest visitors, managed to find their way to the net. Rosenborg needed 86 minutes before that again. Lyse Arena is filling up more and more as the season draws to a close as well. Viking has been very close for many seasons now and it has given a kind of darkened pessimism over Stavanger city - you dare not hope and believe in something until it really looks like something. Now it is starting to look very similar here, even though Bodø/Glimt has played one game less and is only 1 poor point behind with a much better goal difference. But Bodø/Glimt has a much tougher match schedule, several tough matches in Europe await, as well as a decisive away match in Bergen. Everything is in place for this to be Viking's year, so the job must simply and easily be done right – with gradually increasing optimism from the city's supporters. But the gang from Bryne is not going to do this easily, and they have the B-gang standing firmly behind them as the 12th man.

Bryne – a season that has lived up to expectations

Strictly speaking, not many people imagined Bryne much higher in the table than where they are now before the season started. They fight bravely in every match and take important points - enough points to keep the hope of a renewed contract alive. After all the sunshine, there will be a match against HamKam to see who will have to settle for a qualifying place in the end. Both teams have a tough match schedule ahead of them and every single duel counts. Bryne knows that they have the match in them, so they just have to hope that the margins can also be on their side going forward, like against Rosenborg where they salvaged a very important point in the 90+2 minute of play. Absolutely a deserved result in a match where they created enough chances and occasionally played good football.

Bryne away this year has been a sad affair. It is not surprising either, it was always the plan that the points would and should be taken at home. And at home they stand with a respectable 5-4-4 and 19-20 in goal difference. Away, on the other hand, the result is 1-3-8 and 11-21 in goal difference – by no means a statistic they will want to look at before Saturday's game. We have to go all the way back to May 16th the last time Bryne won away, then against a declining Strømsgodset. Since then there have been 5 losses and 3 draws. It also doesn't help that Viking won 3-1 the last time they met and took all the glory back to the city. But, Bryne is playing with their best available here, besides Svindland, and must use the 2-2 game against Rosenborg for all it is worth. Here they clearly showed what lives in the team and that they fight until the last minute of the game. That, plus a good dose of luck/margins, is needed for the match at Lyse Arena.

Conclusion: It smells like a home win with a little something extra

There is no doubt that the dark blues are the favorites here. The home team needs to take 3 points and they will definitely also want to bring as many goals as possible to close the big goal difference gap to Bodø/Glimt. Bryne comes to bring 1 point, all 3 points will probably be believing in the fairy tale a little too early. With a somewhat more defensive approach to the match, where they will make the home team frustrated, a lot can happen. We will see how well Knappen manages to implement the game plan. Let's look at some of the odds options:

• Over 2.5 goals (1.53): The first natural stop is the goal bet and as expected there is not much value here. Viking have 9 of their 12 home games that have ended in over 2.5 goals, while Bryne are pulling down the average with 5 of their 12 away games having over 2.5 goals. Looking at the last 5, 4 of these have ended in over 2.5 goals for Viking, while Bryne has 1 of 5. But more emphasis is placed on Viking's home form, the fact that they are in scoring form and that the return leg ended 3-1. Under 2.5 goals in this game would be particularly remarkable.
• Viking over 7.5 corners (1.75): Viking is the corner team of the year, a lot was won on it at the start of the season before the bookmakers woke up and made it less attractive with corner bets on Viking as long as you don't have to stretch too far. But here we actually get a pretty decent bet at decent odds. Viking averages 10.17 corners at home and has produced corner after corner against every opponent this season. Bryne are certainly tight enough at the back and allow an average of 7.25 corners away from home. A respectable average in that sense, we can also see that from how low their matches are, where only 12 of 25 matches have ended with over 2.5 goals. At Bryne there were 5 corners for Viking, but away is a completely different thing than at home for Viking.
• Viking over 3.5 corners in the 1st half (1.83): Instead of the total number of corners for Viking, it might be more tempting to think that they often go out explosively and try to create dominance from the start to pressure their opponents to their heels. Here you get slightly better odds for a very likely bet. Viking averages 6 corners in the 1st half at home this season. And, here things have suddenly turned a bit, because Bryne concedes far more corners in the 1st half than the 2nd half with an average of 4.08.
• Viking win + over 2.5 goals (1.83): If we combine the goal bet with marking we get good odds. Viking win + over 1.5 goals is available at 1.51 for the slightly less daring. But it must be said that this is a very tempting bet for this match, everything is in place for such a bet to go well.
• Both teams to score (1.83): This is available at pretty good odds. Much of this is probably based on the fact that Viking has been closing in well lately, while Bryne has struggled to find the net on away goals. BTS for Viking this season shows 7 of 12 on home soil, while for Bryne it is 7 of 12 on away goals. In other words, this is also a good bet!
• Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals (2.05): And thus we arrive at the high odds for this match. A game that would have gone well in Bryne in July! One should not ignore that Bryne can create a never-beaten little shock wave with a score, but there have only been 5 goals in the last 5 – 2 matches they have gone goalless. When we also saw how incredibly solid Viking was against Brann, a derby as important as this, this must be taken after careful consideration. There is too much uncertainty around this as a main game, but it is certainly relevant as a live game or a low-stakes game.

It is difficult to choose between corner and goal play here. And handicap bets have also been considered, but the odds did not match what was offered. So then you stand more specifically with 50/50 between Viking over 7.5 corners and Viking win + over 2.5 goals. Here fresh statistics win: Viking created 3 corners in Tromsø and 6 against Brann. Two good opponents, better than Bryne, so maybe it would be wrong to weigh it too much. Against Sarpsborg, for example, there were 12 corners. But with a hint of uncertainty and the fact that the first thing that struck when Viking – Bryne stood on the pitch was marking + goal play, that is the route chosen here. With a dark blue squad in solid form, the following bets are chosen:

Eliteserien at 16:00: Viking – Bryne: Viking wins + over 2.5 goals (1.83)

Alternative games:

Eliteserien at 16:00: Viking – Bryne: Viking over 7.5 corners (1.75)

Eliteserien at 16:00: Viking – Bryne: Viking over 3.5 corners in the 1st half (1.83)