On Wednesday evening, Finland hosts the Republic of Ireland in Group B4 of the Nations League, as the home side look to continue their promising campaign in the relatively newly formed competition.
Finland heads into this clash on a highly inconsistent run of form of late, as the Nordic team have won two and lost three of their previous five international matches. Their record in the latest edition of the Nations League is won two and lost one.
Irish player returns second positive COVID-19 result on retestPlayer will now isolate for 10 days and is out of the Finland match, no other close contacts identified ➡️ https://t.co/dIymTlVPb2#COYBIG | #FINIRL pic.twitter.com/cbxoKCSU0u— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) October 12, 2020
Irish player returns second positive COVID-19 result on retestPlayer will now isolate for 10 days and is out of the Finland match, no other close contacts identified ➡️ https://t.co/dIymTlVPb2#COYBIG | #FINIRL pic.twitter.com/cbxoKCSU0u
In their last outing, the home team recorded a 2-0 home win over Bulgaria. The victory leaves Marrku Kanerva’s team second-place in the group, a point behind group leaders Wales.
Finland’s recent international matches have been low-scoring, with under 2.5 goals scored in three of their last four outings.
They have also won five of their previous seven matches on home soil. Their recent good home form has been built on solid defensive foundations, as they have kept clean sheets in all five of those wins.
The Republic of Ireland drew 0-0 with Wales in their last outing. However, it may be fair to say that the visitors are still recovering from a Euro2021 semi-final play-off penalty kick defeat by Slovakia last week.
The draw against Wales means that Ireland have now won just one of their previous eight international games. Those eight matches have been low-scoring too, as seven of the games have produced under 2.5 goals.
The visitors have failed to win any of their seven Nations League games over the two editions of the competition. A big problem for Ireland of late has been a lack of goals, which is illustrated by the fact that they have failed to score in five of their seven Nations League matches.
Forebet predicts that Finland will continue their recent strong home form and record a victory in a low-scoring encounter to add to Ireland’s recent woes.