How it happened
Noah Tolf settled this match in the ninth minute. His goal was the only one of the afternoon, and IFK Göteborg protected it for the remaining 81 minutes and stoppage time to beat Västerås SK 1-0 at Gamla Ullevi.
The lead was in place at half-time, and Västerås could not find a way back. The visitors lost Jäger to a red card in the sixth minute of added time at the end, a dismissal that came too late to change the outcome.
Göteborg won despite taking far fewer shots. They managed three efforts to Västerås's 12, with one on target to the visitors' two.
The numbers
Västerås had the ball more, with 54% possession to Göteborg's 46%, and won the corner count 6-2. Yet the estimated expected goals favoured the hosts, 0.9 to 0.61. Göteborg made their few chances count for more than the visitors' many.
Tolf took the best match rating on the pitch, 8, and had 81 touches in 90 minutes. Emil Fasth followed with a match rating of 7.3 after 57 touches. Goalkeeper Viktor Andersson shared that 7.3 rating, with two saves, which matches the two shots on target Västerås managed.
What it means
The two sides stood level on 35 points from 23 matches, with 10 wins, five draws and eight defeats each. Västerås were sixth and Göteborg seventh, separated by goal difference of -2 against -9.
Over their last 10 matches Göteborg had won six, drawn two and lost two, scoring 16 and conceding 12. Västerås had won four, drawn one and lost five, with 10 goals scored and 14 conceded.
This was the fourth meeting between the clubs in the recent record, after Göteborg won 5-4 away from home on 31 May and two draws in 2024. Here the scoring was far lower, and one goal decided it.