Ilves v Honka

The wildly inconsistent season for Ilves is now into a downward spiral - no win in five games against mostly winnable opposition has seen them drift into the bottom half and only the dreadful form of the sides below keeping peril at bay.

The signing of forward Adam Larsson brought a couple of early goals but the defence in particular looks lacklustre, conceding three early goals at VPS last week and manager Toni Kallio will not be amused at how easy they made it, the third in particular was a lazy example of how not to play out from the back. They will face a tougher test against a Honka side still in contention for the the title.

At KuPS, Honka took a while to get going, a surprisingly passive first half invited pressure and they went into the break 1-0 down. They came out blazing in the second half and were unlucky not to win, despite their opponents resorting to fouls and creating little. July’s player of the month Rui Modesto continued his fine streak with a great run to assist the equaliser and he should find plenty of space on the right wing to get joy against Ilves.

With only five rounds left before the table splits, it’s unlikely Ilves will get anything here, and will be forced to keep relegation-threatened sides at bay. Honka need to take advantage of HJK not playing to leapfrog into second, I don’t see anything other than a Honka win.

HIFK v SJK

The dreadful 2022 rolled on for HIFK in their last game as they ground out a turgid 0-0 draw away to Lahti, suffering yet another red card in the process and only young keeper Ramilson Almeida to thank for keeping out many of the 17 shots on goal. 

The feted signing of former Finland international Roman Eremenko has yet to inspire a goal, not for his lack of trying but the atmosphere around the club is one of financial woe and an almost acceptance of relegation. The sending off of striker Savio Figueiredo in the first half has meant his first four games for the club have one red, two yellow cards and no goals. Ill discipline has been rife for Mixu Paatelainen’s side.

SJK’s season took a belated boost during their Europa Conference League campaign, an unexpected win there and an improvement that took them into the top half for the first time this season. They faltered last time out with a loss to Inter, while another key player has moved with young midfielder Daniel Håkans moving to Norway on loan. Coach Joaquin Gomez was named manager of the month for July and this match against his former club should yield a good chance to get back to winning ways. Forward Tuomas Kaukua is looking very comfortable at senior level and will be the key here.

It’s likely to be another 90 minutes of defending for HIFK and they’re unlikely to resist a visitor with inside knowledge and a desire to return to Europe.

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