Malmo vs Sporting Braga Match Analysis and Prediction

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Sporting Braga will be looking to build on their impressive start to the new domestic campaign, when they make a trip to Sweden for Thursday’s Europa League encounter against Malmo.

At a time when the hosts are all the way down in seventh place in the Swedish top flight, Sporting Braga head into the contest sitted in second place in the Portuguese Primeira Liga table.

The defending Swedish champions are currently sitting wrongly in the seventh position ,11 points adrift of current leaders, and they are without victory in their three most recent league matches.

Caretaker manager Andreas Georgson may have been struggling to continue in his temporary role had it not been for their efforts during the qualifying stages of this torunament.

Georgson’s side have come through ties with F91 Duedelange and Sivasspor to secure their spot in the group stages of Europa League, a year after featuring in the main stages of the Champions League.

There is a general acceptance that Sporting Braga will almost certainly finish in fourth place in the Primeira Liga every season, as well as potentially having a run in a European competition.

However, the start of this season has rather felt different with 13 points and 18 goals being recorded during their opening five matches of the season.

Although Benfica look a little bit different in form, Artur Jorge has transformed Sporting Braga into a team which look like they could challenge for the league title.

In the early stages of the campign, Braga do not look like they are missing David Carmo after the defender’s big-money departure to Porto.

Sporting Braga have posted four clean sheets in in a row, and Jorge will expect to keep a fifth shutout against Thursday’s opponents Malmo, who seem to have lost their way this year.

Malmo vs Sporting Braga head to head

These two teams have not prevously met on any occasion and this will be their first meeting in the Europa League group stages.

Malmo latest home form

Malmo were beaten 1-0 by Kalmar in their last home game in the league. However, they have recently been on a relatively good run of form at home, as they have won each of their previous three matches. In their last five matches, they have scored nine goals and conceded five.

Malmo 0-2 Zalgiris 27/07/22

Malmo 3-0 F91 Dudelange 04/08/22

Malmo 3-1 GIF Sundsvall 14/08/22

Malmo 3-1 Sivasspor 0-2 Malmo 25/08/22

Malmo 0-1 Kalmar 28/08/22

Malmo latest away form

Malmo were beaten 3-2 by Elfsborg in their last away game in the league. However, they have recently been on a relatively good run of form on the road, having been unbeaten in their previous four matches. In their last five matches, they have scored 16 goals and conceded five.

F91 Dudelange 2-2 Malmo 11/08/22

Mjallby 1-1 Malmo 21/08/22

Sivasspor 0-2 Malmo 25/08/22

Bralanda 0-9 Malmo 31/08/22

Elfsborg 3-2 Malmo 04/09/22

Sporting Braga latest home form

Sporting Braga have recently been on a good run of form at home, having been unbeaten in their 11 most recent matches. They managed to defeat Vitoria Guimaraes 1-0 in their last home game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored 13 goals and conceded five.

Sporting Braga 2-1 AFC Bournemouth 19/07/22

Sporting Braga 2-1 Celta Vigo 29/07/22

Sporting Braga 3-3 Sporting Lisbon 07/08/22

Sporting Braga 5-0 Maritimo 21/08/22

Sporting Braga 1-0 Vitoria Guimaraes 03/09/22

Sporting Braga latest away form

Sporting Braga have recently been on a relatively good run of form on the road, having lost just two of their six most recent matches. They defeated Arouca 6-0 in their last away game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored 12 goals and conceded five.

Belenenses 0-1 Sporting Braga 30/04/22

Famalicao 3-2 Sporting Braga 15/05/22

Portimonense 2-0 Sporting Braga 23/07/22

Famalicao 0-3 Sporting Braga 12/08/22

Arouca 0-6 Sporting Braga 28/08/22

Malmo news

Despite their defeat to Elfsborg at the weekend, head coach Georgson will consider sticking with the side which had established a 2-1 lead heading into the final quarter.

Isaac Kiese Thelin found the back of the net twice during that game, taking his tally to 11 goals from 22 appearances for the season.

Sporting Braga news

Veteran midfielder Castro may come into the Sporting Braga XI having featured as a substitute in each of the league matches so far.

Forward Abel Ruiz, who has two goals to his name, should also feature on Thursday, while Diego Lainez is also pushing for a starting role on the right-hand side.