Named ”New Firm”, this local derby will feature the 2 dominating teams in Danish footbal for the past 15 years battling it out. However they come into this derby with a totally different approach as their respective season openers turned out quite differently for the two teams:

Danish Superliga standings:

FC Copenhagen (FCK)
Ruled out: None

Home game record: 7-2-1
If FCK comes out playing this game like they did in the season opener against an injury-plagued AGF team, Brondby will be dismantled. Playing magnificient from the 1st minute, FCK recorded an impressive 5-0 win that saw Brazilian attacker Cesar Santin record a hattrick within the first 40 minutes of the game. Before halftime midfielder Martin Vingaard made it 4-0 and from then on the 2nd half was pretty much on cruise control for FCK. If this is what we can expect from FCK in the last 14 games, I will have to name them favourites for the title. When at the same time, OB threw 2 points at FC Midtjylland, FCK now finds themselves in 1st position, something they are quite familiar with. I can not remember seeing such an impressive performance in the first game in the Superliga and it was clear that their 2 Euro League games against Marseille had done them good. This being said though one could also argue that the victory came at the hands of a rather weak AGF team, missing their top 3 players to injury but lets not take anything away from FCK and just conclude that they looked like “a team on a mission”.

Brondby
Ruled out: Max Von Schleebrügge (knee), Mikkel Bischoff (doubtfull)

Away game record:4-1-4
One of the less encouraging performances of the first round came at the hands of Brondby. As stated in the Superliga preview Brondby is finding themselves struggling to find their game both on and off the pitch. The lead in to the season opener saw a new boardroom scandal as newly hired (August 2009) Financial manager Franck B. Andersen handed in his resignation a couple of days prior to the game. The official statement is that it was due to irreconcilable management differences. Their troubles continued on the pitch as they faced Soenderjyske at home, a game that they were heavily favoured to win. However after 31minutes they found themselves trailing 0-1 and shortly thereafter they were forced to substitute their captain Max Von Schlebrügge and Mikkel Bischoff in two different tackles within 3 seconds. Schlebrügge is ruled out for 8 weeks with a torn legiment in his knee whereas Bischoff’s injury is less serious. The 2nd half was a tough battle for possession and in the end Brondby was awarded a penalty which Alexander Farnerud utilized in the 86min. Returning for this game is keeper Stephan Andersen which is a big plus, provided that he is 100% fit. With Schlebrügge out, the left back will be held by Thomas Rasmussen who was very unsatisfied with not being a starter in the weekend – an attitude that he also led the press be know of.

Conclusion
Their recent 10 games against each other speaks of 5 wins for FCK, 2 draws and 3 wins for Brondby but one thing is history, another is reality. FCK is by far the stronger team on every single position. I can not see Brondby getting anything from this game and recommend FCK to win.