The games in the Finland Veikkausliiga this week are spread out across four days and on Tuesday 18th June we have a match between FC Lahti and RoPS Rovaniemi to enjoy.
This is a battle between two teams in the bottom half of the table. FC Lahti start the weekend in 8th place with 14 points from ten games. A win could see them move into the top half of the table. RoPS Rovaniemi are down in 10th place with 11 points having played a game more than their opponents.
FC Lahti come into this match on the back of a good 1-0 win at Mariehamn last time out. That result closed the gap between themselves and Mariehamn to just goal difference, so it was an important victory.
That was FC Lahti’s second win in six games but trends show they have lost only one of those six matches. The defeat came at Honka towards the end of May and prior to that, FC Lahti had drawn three and won one, with the win coming at home against HJK Helsinki.
Despite losing only one of their last six league games, wins have been hard to come by for FC Lahti. Trends show they have won only four of their last twenty-four Veikkausliiga matches. At home, they have won one of the last twelve but have remained undefeated in the last five.
RoPS Rovaniemi went down 1-0 at home in their last match which was played at the end of May. They will be looking forward to getting back in action but will want to improve on their recent form. Trends show RoPS Rovaniemi have won one of their last five league games.
The win came against VPS away from home and was a narrow 1-0 victory. Since then, they have been held at home by SJK and lost at home to HJK.
Away form is actually better than their home form and RoPS Rovaniemi have won two of their last four on the road. The wins have come at KPV and VPS, with both games ended 1-0. However, in-between those two victories came two defeats, 2-0 at Mariehamn and 3-0 at Inter FC.
Team news and FC Lahti were without Jeronimo Amione for their previous game and the Mexican is yet to play a game this season. Josu Currais is a key player in midfield and has 3 goals to his name in the current campaign.
RoPS Rovaniemi travel with doubts over four players. Sergio Llamas, Tarik Kada, Aleksandr Kokko and Timo Stavitski could miss out.
This has the makings of being a very close game. Both teams have scored is six of FC Lahti’s last seven home league games and we could see that become seven of the last eight. Therefore, a draw with both teams scoring is a likely outcome.