Estonia vs Finland Predictions

It has been a largely torrid 2018 for the Estonian national team, who started off with promise but have quickly faded and are now in a rut of four straight defeats.

Draws against Sweden, in an official friendly, and Armenia away from home in their opening fixtures suggested that Estonia could fight for positive results, especially given Sweden’s quality. Moreover, a 2-0 win against Lithuania in the Baltic Cup in their fourth game of the year further raised expectations that this team had the ability to win the games against lesser teams and hold out against better ones.

However, apart from those games, Estonia have lost almost every match. A 2-0 away defeat was coupled with a loss to Latvia in the Baltic Cup. Furthermore, the team went on to lose 3-1 at home to Morocco to diminish any optimism the team had about progression this year. The situation did not improve in the last round of Nations League fixtures. They lost 1-0 at home to Greece, being dominated for most of the match and saved by some poor Greek finishing, as well as some decent saves from goalkeeper Mihkel Aksalu.

Estonia’s second Nations League match was against their opponents today, Finland. Once more, they lost 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Norwich striker Teemu Pukki. Whilst proceedings were more even than the match against Greece, Finland could easily have added to their total and hit the woodwork. Despite this, Finland held on for the win to condemn Estonia to their fifth defeat in six games.

In contrast, Finland look to be in great form, having won four of their last five matches. Comfortable friendly wins against Malta and Belarus, albeit in the middle of a defeat by Romania, gave them some momentum coming into these Nations League fixtures.

They won their first match 1-0 against Hungary, with yet another early goal from Pukki setting them on their way to victory. They were pegged back for most of the match, facing 16 attempts on goal throughout the match but it is testament to their character that they were able to hang on for the win. In addition, in goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, of German club Bayer Leverkusen, they have a top-class player who can keep Finland in matches.

Finland are now favourites to top the group and have momentum in their favour, with some players in great form for club coming into this match and will fancy their chances to beat an Estonian side low on confidence. We think they will manage it, with backing Finland to win holding some great value. In terms of a correct-score, Estonia look devoid of attacking confidence and are coming up against a great shot-stopper in Hradecky, so a comfortable 2-0 win for Finland looks appropriate for this game.