FC Lahti and Ilves meet at Lahden Stadion, in a match for the 8th round of the Veikkausliiga. The history of direct confrontations played at this stadium is favorable to the home team, which in the last 4 matches won 2 and drew 2. Indeed, the last time these two teams played a match at this stadium, on 14‑07‑ 2019, for the Veikkausliiga, FC Lahti won by (1‑0). P. Lampinen (22 ‘) scored the only goal of the match. Pay attention to the home factor, as FC Lahti tends to achieve different results at home and away.
FC Lahti :
After 2 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, the home team is currently in 8th position, with 8 points won. In their last match, they tied with HJK Helsinki away by (1‑1), after in the previous match having drawn (0‑0) at home, in a match against Honka Espoo. This is a team that curiously tends to achieve more positive results as a visitor than at home, since in the last 30 games they have recorded 8 victories, 3 draws and 4 defeats as a visitor, with 27 goals scored and 20 suffered; against 5 victories, 4 draws and 6 defeats in his stadium, with 18 goals scored and 21 suffered. In the last 10 home matches for all competitions, FC Lahti won 3, drew 3 and lost 4. In 10 matches, they never managed to come back in the 4 matches in which they conceded the first goal.
This is a recent soccer team, founded in 1996. But make no mistake. This is a team that used to compete in the elite of Finnish football, having reached the national first division in 1998. Since then, the team has been demoted only once, in 2010, but has returned next year (2011). winning the second division title for the second time. However, Lahti never surpassed Veikkausliiga and his achievements in this edition of the competition in the best way. So far there have been 3 draws, 2 wins (both home games) and 2 losses in 7 games played, with 7 goals scored and 9 receipts. It is a classified team, which has been away from home, but has not yet managed to win in its territory: 2 draws and 1 loss in 3 games. Lahti finds it difficult to harmonize defense with attack and the lack of this balance translates into the current instability of the team.
Ilves :
The visiting team is currently in the 5th position, with 12 points won, after 3 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses. In the penultimate match, they drew at home against HIFK by (2‑2). In the last match, they won at home against RoPS Rovaniemi by (1‑0). This is a team that presents similar results at home and abroad, so it is not usually affected by the home factor, since in the last 30 games it has recorded 7 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses as a visitor; against 9 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses in his stadium. For the championship, Ilves won 4 points out of 12 possible, after 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses in the last 4 matches they played as a visitor. His attack has scored regularly, as he has scored goals in 6 of the last 8 matches for this competition. In the last 11 away matches for all competitions there is 1 period that stands out: they have conceded 6 of their 16 goals between minutes (76’ ‑ 90 ‘).
This is a traditional team from Finland that, despite not being among the big winners, has 6 national titles. The latest achievement was the Finnish Cup last year (2019), which the team even surprisingly won. This year Ilves Tampere fell in the Finnish Cup quarter-finals and has seen better days at Veikkausliiga. The team stayed 5 games without winning until the last round, when they beat the beacon of the competition at home, by the simple score of 1-0. In total, the team played 8 games, won 3, drew 3 and lost 2, having scored 10 goals and conceded 13. It is clear that, despite rarely losing balance, Ilves suffers from defensive irregularity. On the other hand, the team has a highly qualified team, organized by the Brazilian Jair in midfield and led offensively by Lauri Ala-Myllymaki. Even playing away from home, Ilves is up against a team that doesn’t have much firepower and therefore has a good chance of scoring points in this match.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,82
