Molde's Attacking Surge Meets Start's Injury-Hit Resistance in Eliteserien Sunday Clash

Sunday 18 October. Molde at home. Start trying to hold the tide. On paper this looks straightforward. The thing is, football does not care about paper. But the evidence here is hard to argue with, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Molde: Four Wins in Five and Goals Flying In

Molde have won four of their last five Eliteserien matches. Four wins, no draws, one defeat. That is not a team coasting. That is a team with momentum and, more importantly, a team that competes. They put five past HamKam in their most recent outing. Five. That is not lucky. That is a unit that knows where the goal is and has the desire to fill it.

Pull it back to ten matches and Molde have six wins, two draws and two losses. They have scored 27 goals in that stretch. Twenty-seven. Both sides have scored in nine of those ten games at a rate of ninety per cent. Listen, clean sheets are not something Molde do. They have kept one in their last ten Eliteserien matches. One. So if you are backing them to shut the door entirely, you are taking on the weight of their own history. I would not bother.

The goals Molde concede matter less when they keep scoring at this rate. They beat Vålerenga 4-3. They beat Tromsø 3-2. They drew 3-3 with Sarpsborg 08. This is not a tight, defensive outfit. This is a side that will outscore you. Their attitude in front of goal has been unacceptable for any defence unfortunate enough to face them recently. That is a compliment, by the way.

Molde do have injury issues. They are missing players of varying severity, including two absentees not expected back until the end of December. A long-term absence since May 2025 adds to the concern. But here is the thing: four wins in five suggests whoever is available is doing the job. Accountability across the squad. That is what you want to see.

Start: Inconsistent, Leaky, and Short on Bodies

Start come into this with two wins and three losses from their last five Eliteserien matches. That form string reads WLWLL. Two wins followed by two straight defeats. They beat Brann 2-0 in their most recent game, which is a decent result. But then they lost to Aalesund 0-2 before that. And before that result, they lost to Fredrikstad 0-1 and to Viking 0-3.

Look across ten matches and Start have won four, drawn none and lost six. Six losses in ten. That is not good enough. There is no other way to say it. When your draw column reads zero, it means you are either winning or losing. For Start, it has been losing far too often.

Their scoring is patchy at best. Twelve goals in ten matches. They have blanked entirely in multiple games. In their last five they have conceded seven goals. The basics of holding a defensive line and competing for ninety minutes have not been there consistently enough.

The injury situation at Start is a serious problem. They have three players out, including two long-term absentees, one of whom has been sidelined since May 2025. A moderate injury picked up in August remains unresolved. When a squad is already stretched and you walk into Molde's place carrying that kind of baggage, you need every available player to be at their absolute best. Standards cannot slip. There is no margin.

Head to Head: One Meeting, One Draw

There is only one recorded meeting between these two sides in this competition. It finished level, with both sides scoring once. That is one data point and it tells us very little. I am not building a case on a single match from April. What I am building a case on is the trajectory of both sides right now. End of.

The Verdict

The thing is, Molde are in the kind of form where they punish teams that lack defensive organisation. Start have shown they can keep a clean sheet, they did exactly that against Brann, but they have also shipped three to Viking and two to Aalesund in recent weeks. That inconsistency is what kills teams at this level.

Molde have scored fifteen goals in their last five matches. That is an average of three per game. Three goals per game. Start's defensive record does not suggest they have what it takes to shut that off. The desire and the attitude from Molde's attack has been relentless. I see no reason for that to change at home on Sunday.

I am backing Molde to win. Not because Start are a bad side in every respect. But because the evidence says Molde are the sharper, more ruthless team right now and Start are walking in with an injury list and a form record that invites punishment. I do not need a laptop to see that. I need eyes and the data on the sheet in front of me.

Molde to win. One selection. Back it with conviction or not at all.