Honka vs Ilves Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Two sides who have had a pretty solid start to the campaign in the Finnish Veikkausliiga come head to head this Saturday afternoon as FC Honka welcome Ilves Tampere to Tapiolan Urheilupuisto. Despite their solid start, both of these sides have built this on the back of a solid defence rather than some open and attacking football. With this in mind, we cannot see this one going down as one for the ages and we are tipping the match to finish with less than 2.5 goals scored.

Seventh placed FC Honka won their spot in Finland’s top division at the end of the last campaign when they triumphed over HIJK on away goals over two legs. Since taking the place of their vanquished foe, Honka have gone from strength to strength and even though we are still in the early stages of the competition, they already look like they belong at this level.

Much of their success has come down to their excellent organisation at the back. However, this strength has come at a cost and the fact that their 11 goals scored in the league so far is the joint third worst offensive record probably tells you what you need to know about this side. With an offensive stat like that, it should come as little surprise to learn that 60% of their matches this term has finished with less than 2.5 goals scored.

The form of the hosts is not the only reason why we are confident in this tip, as the visitors have also scored just 11 times this season. However, this has also been balanced out at the other end of the pitch and they have managed to keep a clean sheet in almost half of their outings so far. With the stats the way they are, we fully expect the figure of 82% of Ilves’s matches, which have had under 2.5 goals in total, to be higher at the end of the 90 minutes this weekend.