We have two games to look forward to on Saturday 27th July in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. The race for the top of the table is really heating up and the standout fixture is between FC Honka Espoo and Ilves Tampere.
Ahead of the first match of the weekend, which takes place on Friday night, FC Honka Espoo are in 4th place in the table on 27 points from sixteen games played. This visitors to the Tapiolan Urheilupuisto are top of the table and Ilves Tampere have 29 points from fifteen games played, so are in a strong position despite there being only 2 points between them.
FC Honka Espoo come into this match having lost 3-1 at Inter Turku last weekend. This was always going to be a tough assignment given the close proximity of the sides in the league and with the score at 2-1, FC Honka Espoo conceded a third late on while searching for the equaliser.
Trends show FC Honka Espoo have lost two of their last seven home league games. During those seven matches they have defeated Inter Turku, Lahti, RoPS and HIFK. They have also picked up a point against VPS.
FC Honka Espoo have kept three clean sheets in their eight home league games this season and have seen over 2.5 goals scored in each of their last four in the Veikkausliiga.
Ilves Tampere will be hoping to extend their lead at the top of the league with a win in this game. They were held to a 1-1 draw last weekend at home against HJK Helsinki and needed a 93rd minute penalty to get a point.
That result means Ilves Tampere have failed to win their last two league matches. Prior to the draw with HJK Helsinki, they were defeated 1-0 at Lahti, which was a disappointing result considering how far behind they are in the title race.
However, that was their only defeat in their last seven matches in all competitions and trend show Ilves Tampere have lost just two of their last seventeen Veikkausliiga games. They have scored 2 or more goals in four of their last six but away from home, Ilves Tampere have kept one clean sheet in their last five on the road.
Moving on to the team news and FC Honka Espoo will be hoping top goal scorer, Borjas Martín is fit to start up-front. Jonas Levanen remains a doubt.
Ilves Tampere have doubts over the fitness of Aleksi Tarvonen but he is the only player likely to miss out. Lauri Ala-Myllymäki is the second highest scorer in the league and will be aiming to add to his tally.
This could be a high scoring game, with both teams capable of finding the back of the net but struggling to keep regular clean sheets. In a closely fought contest we could see a draw with both teams scoring.