København move fourteen points clear at the top, whilst Brøndby pick up one of the most important wins of the season

While one end of the table felt a little more spacious after this weekend, the other became as cramped as it’s ever been. Superliga giants København moved fourteen points clear at the top of the table, arguably ending any hopes of Nordsjælland catching them, whilst Brøndby won one of the most important games of the season.

This week’s action kicked off earlier than normal on Wednesday evening when Aalborg and Odense met at Nordjyske Arena. A win for either side would move them up to third in the table – until the weekend at least – and despite a fast start from the home side which saw them go ahead after only three minutes thanks to Nicklas Helenius (who scored again just over half an hour later), Odense fought their way back to pick up a 2-2 draw thanks to a last-minute equaliser from Cédric N’Koum. The point would have been hard to swallow for fourth-place Aalborg, who are now without a league win in four games, after they then went on to draw 0-0 with ninth-place Esbjerg on Saturday. Odense, meanwhile, were unable to capitalise on their impressive late comeback and lost 2-0 to eighth-place Horsens, the victory giving them their first points since the beginning of November, thanks to goals in either half from Charles Takyi and Jude Nworuh.

Randers took advantage of Aalborg’s draws to go three points ahead of them in third place with a 2-0 win over tenth-place SønderjyskE, with Nicolai Brock-Madsen scoring both of the goals. Randers’ season has been one of the most impressive, and they’ll be confident about their chances of catching and overtaking an erratic Nordsjælland side in second as the season draws to a close.

After København comfortably beat second-to-bottom-place Silkeborg 3-1 at home on Sunday afternoon, Nordsjælland were well aware that anything less than a victory would effectively end their hopes of ever catching the nine-time league champions. And that’s exactly what happened when they travelled to seventh-place Midtjylland on Monday evening, both sides being forced to share the points in a 1-1 draw. København now sit fourteen points clear at the top of the table, and it can be argued that the title is as good as theirs.

The win of the week arguably goes to Brøndby, however; bottom of the table, wrapped up in financial problems and with only three league wins this season before this weekend, the future isn’t looking bright for the capital’s other Superliga club. But, despite this, they pulled off a truly remarkable win on Sunday evening when they beat sixth-place AGF 3-0 away from home, moving them just one point behind both eleventh-place Silkeborg and tenth-place SønderjyskE. Simon Makienok, now the joint-third top goalscorer in the league this season, put the away side 1-0 up just before half time, before Jens Larsen doubled the lead four minutes after the restart and Makienok wrapped up the win with twenty-five minutes left. Such a comfortable win will be a godsend for Brøndby, and with eleven games left to play they’ll be hoping that they can use this weekend’s hugely important victory to turn their miserable season around. However, with the bottom half of the table so tight (only five points separate second-from-bottom Silkeborg and seventh-place Midtjylland), the battle to avoid relegation is going to be one that goes right to the wire.

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