Both aiming to make it back-to-back victories in the Norwegian Eliteserien, Sarpsborg 08 and Rosenborg will square off at the Sarpsborg Stadion on Friday. The hosts remain in the relegation zone of the top-flight table but within a point of automatic safety after their crucial win last time out under the new management of Christian Michelsen , while their visitors sit seven places ahead but just four points better off. Sarpsborg 08 return to action on Friday with the aim of leaping out of the drop zone in the Norwegian Eliteserien, having moved closer to safety with a crucial return to winning ways last time out after a difficult start to the season.
Following three consecutive eighth-placed finishes in the domestic top flight, Stefan Billborn 's team amassed just seven points from their first eight outings, culminating in 4-1 and 7-1 beatings at the hands of Sandefjord and HamKam, and after bouncing back in impressive fashion away at Molde in May, they went on to endure another difficult run. Indeed, that was followed by another three losses on the bounce, firstly falling to Stromsgodset and Kristiansund, spelling the end of Billborn's tenure, before hosting league leaders Bodo/Glimt in new boss Christian Michelsen's first game at the helm and falling short in agonising fashion, having led through Henrik Meister and gone into injury time level, only for a 92nd-minute Franklin Tebo Uchenna own goal to see the visitors leave with a 2-1 victory. That meant they headed into Sund.
