FC Honka Espoo vs Inter Turku
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Today’s free tip is in the Finnish Veikkausliiga encounter between FC Honka Espoo and Inter Turku.
I really don’t think that Spanish boss Riveiro gets enough credit at Inter Turku. His style and motivational abilities has allowed Inter Turku to dream of being a legitimate Veikkausliiga title contender once more. Not only that, but he’s done it this season after losing most of his defence and his best attacker pre-season. I always get the impression that his players listen to him intently, and because they have that understanding, Inter Turku can operate at a much higher level than the quality in their squad would perhaps suggest.
I also think that Inter Turku have had a particularly hard start to their Veikkausliiga campaign, which makes the fact that they’ve managed to win three from four all the more impressive, especially with their derby victory over HJK last time out in mind. They’ve not been perfect, Inter Turku, but they’ve worked hard, they’ve kept and used the ball really well in central midfield thanks to Muniz and Annan, and they’ve been clinical too. They’re actually getting much better service into target man Furuholm than I thought they would without Ojala. Liliu and Kagayama may not be the finishers that their fans hoped for, but they are bundles of energy, which is clearly what Riveiro wanted. I think Ruane has started to show what he’s capable of, and playmaker Paananen is doing marvellously now he’s not locked into any defensive duties thanks to the two maintainers behind him. It’s a very harmonious setup that Inter Turku have right now.
I still think that their defence is suspect, which is perfectly reasonable at this stage, considering that they’ve sold three of their back four, and their fourth defender, Hamalainen, has had injury problems so far this season. I’m sure it’ll improve with time, and the early signs are fairly encouraging, but for now I don’t trust them to keep teams out. However, I do trust them to score goals because they always give themselves a chance to do so by using the ball properly in midfield, and supporting their target man very well indeed. Therefore, despite this being a tough fixture, I think Inter Turku will give as good as they get on the day, which should involve them scoring at least once.
FC Honka Espoo enter this game on the back of a 3-1 victory over TPS. Although the victory was deserved, I thought that the scoreline flattered FC Honka Espoo just a tad. In that game, they controlled proceedings easily enough but made elementary mistakes. For example, TPS weren’t getting a sniff of goal until FC Honka Espoo took the lead from the spot. FC Honka Espoo eased off, surrendered possession for five minutes, and promptly conceded, undoing all of their good work in the process. After that, they stepped it up again, controlled the game again (albeit not as well as before), and ended up winning. However, not many teams are going to let Kaufmann score with his head, and not many teams are going to squander the counter-attacking opportunities that TPS did in the second-half either. I still think that FC Honka Espoo have another couple of levels to go to, to be blunt.
If they don’t step it up today, they won’t win – of that I am certain. That display vs TPS was decent enough for that type of opponent but it won’t be enough to beat Inter Turku. I think that they ultimately need to coax more from Dongou/Kandji/Savage in wide positions because they’re all capable. They’re doing enough at the moment without being spectacular, if that makes sense. FC Honka Espoo’s more cautious approach means that they need one of them to be special at the bare minimum, or the support for Martin isn’t quite what it needs to be. I mean, Hervas and Kaufmann will keep the play moving like it needs to be, but it’s their faster, more powerful creators that need to get the ball into the box more often than not.
They’re lucky to be up against an unfamiliar Inter Turku defence today because if they weren’t, I’d probably be backing Inter Turku to beat them here, circumstances in mind. However, it’s a good time to be able to score against Inter Turku, even if beating them is a lot harder than that. I don’t believe FC Honka Espoo are doing enough to manage that right now, although they are if they play to their best, and that can surely only be just around the corner. Therefore, I’m going to cheerfully overlook the 1×2 market altogether. For me, the best value here lies in backing both teams to score at 91/100.
Verdict: Both teams to score at 91/100.
Wednesday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Australian A-League:
Perth Glory vs Wellington Phoenix
Danish Superligaen:
Brondby vs FC Midtjylland
FC Nordsjaelland vs AGF
Aalborg BK vs FC Copenhagen
English Premier League:
Manchester United vs West Ham United
Liverpool vs Chelsea
Faroese Betrideildin:
NSI Runavik vs Skala
KI vs AB
Finnish Veikkausliiga:
FC Honka Espoo vs Inter Turku
HIFK vs SJK
IFK Mariehamn vs Haka Valkeakoski
KuPS vs FC Lahti
TPS vs HJK
Icelandic Urvalsdeild:
FH vs KA
KR vs Fjolnir Reykjavik
Italian Serie A:
Parma vs SSC Napoli
Lecce vs Brescia
Internazionale vs ACF Fiorentina
Sampdoria vs Genoa
Torino vs Hellas Verona
SPAL vs AS Roma
Russian Premier League:
FK Rostov vs Zenit St. Petersburg
FK Krasnodar vs Akhmat Grozny
CSKA Moscow vs Tambov
Dinamo Moscow vs FK Orenburg
Rubin Kazan vs Spartak Moscow
Krylya Sovetov Samara vs PFC Sochi
FK Ufa vs Arsenal Tula
Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast vs Lokomotiv Moscow
Swedish Allsvenskan:
BK Hacken Goteborg vs AIK Solna
IFK Norrkoping vs Varberg
Djurgarden vs Ostersunds FK
Swiss Super League:
FC Thun vs Servette
Luzern vs FC Sion
Lugano vs FC Zurich
St. Gallen vs FC Basel
Enjoy your free betting tips!