With two rounds left, Hammarby is in the driver's seat, with AIK hot on their heels, thanks to "Gnaget's" 2–1 win over Elfsborg.
Ioannis Pittas scored his 12th Allsvenskan goal of the season just a minute in – and AIK skillfully defended their lead.
Dino Besirovic's 2–0 goal proved to be very important since Simon Hedlund reduced the score with a penalty.
Hammarby stands on 53 points and AIK 51 ahead of the last two rounds. If Djurgården beats Västerås SK on Monday, the club will make contact and enter the final rounds with 50 points.
Second or third
It's about becoming second or third – these positions entail qualifying for the Conference League this summer. The sporting and economic importance of reaching European play increases every year.
Elfsborg is already there and came to the national arena from the warm-up in Istanbul on Thursday. There, the club showed once again that Allsvenskan teams can really measure up to the continent's top clubs.
Elfsborg followed up their sensational 1–0 win at home against Roma with a comeback that was close to earning points, but Galatasaray won 4–3.
The goal in AIK is always to reach the top 3 if we don't win, and to get into Europe, says AIK's national team midfielder Anton Salétros to Max.
And continues:
Three points are in, nice. We have good control from the start. We got an early goal and goals set the tone for matches. We have a bit more ball possession within the team than we've had in the last matches, and that benefited us today.
AIK enters the season finale in brilliant form and continues to draw crowds to the Strawberry arena. Whatever happens in the battle against Hammarby and Djurgården, AIK is on its way to a new Allsvenskan attendance record.
Before the meeting with Elfsborg, the home average was 28,033, and 27,177 spectators saw today's match.
AIK concludes the Allsvenskan at home against Halmstad on November 10.
Hammarby holds the current attendance record: 26,372 from 2022.
