VPS vs HJK Prediction: The visitors will win

This Saturday at the Lemonsoft Stadion, a matchup between VPS and HJK will take place as part of the second round of competition for the Finland Veikkausliiga.

The previous Veikkausliiga match between VPS Vaasa and FC Lahti ended in a scoreless draw, so they have had some extra time to prepare for this one.

In their last six matches, Jussi Nuorela's VPS Vaasa have scored a combined total of ten goals for the team. In the same period of time, their opponents have managed to score 7 goals against them.

VPS Vaasa enters this game having lost their last eight straight league matches to HJK. However, they have not suffered a loss in any of their previous three league matches played at home.

The visitors are superior to the home team in every area of the game. HJK has been victorious in six of their last eight contests. Their mentality in the last third has been the driving force behind the vast majority of their successful performances. It is to be expected from a team of this calibre that they have scored two goals or more in six of their most recent eight matches.

HJK will be coming into this game on the heels of a victory in their most recent Veikkausliiga match, which they won 2-0 against FC Honka.

In recent games involving HJK, there has been a pattern developing in which at least one team does not manage to score. This trend has been pretty persistent. When looking at their most recent 6 meetings, we can see that this has happened 5 times. HJK have scored 4 goals in those matches, while the other teams have scored 8. In a little while, we will find out if that pattern can be maintained throughout this match.

In the four league matches that came before this one, HJK had not suffered a loss to VPS Vaasa when playing in games that were held away from their normal venue.

VPS - Marttinen(GK), Mensah, Pitkanen, Pikkarainen, Alanko, Ahiabu, Bashkirov, Niemi, Raisanen, Multanen, Jaaska.

HJK - Ost(GK), Soiri, Toivio, Tenho, Raitala, Kanellopoulos, Tanaka, Peltola, Olusanya, Radulovic, Meriluoto.

VPS is dangerous enough to get through the defence of this HJK lineup, but it is likely that a single goal scored against them won't be quite as many as they will have scored overall. As a result, we anticipate that HJK will emerge victorious from this contest with a slim margin of victory.

• W2 for 1.60 odds
• BTTS for 2.16 odds
• Over 2.5 for 2.10 odds