IFK Mariehamn vs Honka Predictions

Although we may be in the summer break for the major European leagues, the weather in Finland means that their football season is played over these months and although there is still plenty of time to go in the season, we are already at a pivotal stage in deciding who will be contesting for the title. This Sunday sees early league leaders FC Honka look to continue their impressive start as they make the trip to an IFK Mariehamn side who no side in the Veikkausliiga should be underestimating.

The hosts may well be capable of upsetting any side in the division but they go into this contest hoping that they can improve on their recent outings which has seen them lose three in a row. Mariehamn’s lack of form has seen them slip down the table and although they match up pretty well against this weekend’s visitors in terms of goals scored and goals conceded, they remain nine points away from the league leaders, albeit with a game in hand.

Making the trip to the Wiklöf Holding Arena is an FC Honka side who, at the time of writing at least, top the Veikkausliiga. However, with four sides within two points of the FC Honka, they know that they can ill afford to slip up if they are to retain their spot at the head of the division. The visitors will be confident going into this match as they have the best away record in the division with 13 points coming from their six matches on the road to date.

Given the strength of the visitors so far this season, especially on the road, we are expecting them to display yet another strong performance. When you factor in that their hosts have now lost three matches in a row going into this contest, then backing an away win looks to be the best way to earn a decent return in this contest.

We are not done there, however, as we believe that if the visitors are to emerge victorious then it is likely to come as a result of a strong defensive performance. FC Honka have won a third of their matches to nil, and given that their hosts have failed to score in their last two matches, we think that backing them to win this one to nil too represents a great opportunity to boost the return on offer.