Hameenlinna vs AC Oulu
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Today’s secondary featured game is the Ykkonen encounter between relegation-threatened Hameenlinn and Ykkonen favourites AC Oulu. The hosts have claimed some good results so far this season although with a degree of fortune whereas AC Oulu haven’t got going fully yet but are still impressive and should make it count here today.
Hosts Hameenlinna have won three Ykkonen games this season and all of them have been away from home, ironically. They’ve played two home games and have drawn with fellow relegation battlers Jippo Joensuu and a decent KooTeePee Kotka side as they continually struggle to break down stout defences. Hameenlinna are generally quite hard to score against themselves but they’re not a potent side, hence their continual struggle to stay in the Ykkonen. Ironically, their away wins show them to be a strong side in front of goal but they’re generally not. They counter-attack quite well and have taken their chances pretty well on the road this season but I can’t help feeling that they’re the Ykkonen equivilant of Veikkausliiga outfit RoPS Rovaniemi; over-achieving but hard-working. Hameenlinna work well as a unit but do they have the individuals in their ranks to trouble the likes of AC Oulu? I doubt it.
Oulu themselves have had a bit of a tricky “welcome back” to the Ykkonen with games against FC Lahti, who were relegated from the Veikkausliiga with them, KooTeePee Kotka, who are tipped for a good campaign this season, and two sides that did very well in the Ykkonen last year – PoPa Pori and KPV Kokkola respectively – and three of those games were away from home! Therefore, Oulu taking seven points from a possible twelve is quite acceptable in my book, irrespective of PoPa’s injury problems or KPV Kokkola’s poor displays. Oulu’s quality stems from having been able to keep hold of most of their key players from last season with only two departing pre-season and Jonke departing in the past week or so. Oulu still play well because Nurmela in midfield is still a class act at thirty-nine years of age and Albanian hitman Stafsula is playing excellently at the moment. There’s some very talented players in this team i.e. Ojala, Sira etc. and they fuse quite well with the more experienced players. New signing Vuolo in goal has settled in well and with Fomichev holding things together at the back, Oulu importantly has a lynchpin in each area of the team. I like this Oulu team a lot and I think there’s a very good chance they’ll demonstate just why I like them by winning this game today.
Ultimately, there’s a bigger quality gap between these two sides than the Ykkonen table suggests. I think Oulu have more than enough ability to nullify the limited threat that Hameenlinna have and to score a couple of goals themselves. For me, there’s some value in the away win at evens although I’d not be comfortable backing it at anything shorter than evens.
Team news – Hameenlinna miss Tuomenojan.
Verdict: AC Oulu to win at evens.
Thursday’s Picks
My tips:
As ever, below are my recommended value tips for today in no particular order:
HiFK Helsinki vs PoPa Pori – over 2.5 goals at 9/10.
HiFK are generally not an over 2.5 goals team but I’m going over 2.5 goals with them here. Why? Well, I’m just going with the fact that PoPa Pori cannot defend with most of their defenders absent for this game, namely Viljanen, Aijala, and Vuorinen. They’ve still got talented players in attack with Fofana and Dema supporting Ruisniemi and Makela and have more than enough to score goals here. However, I’ll be amazed if they keep a clean sheet against HiFK because they just don’t have the players to manage it. Look what happened at home against FC Lahti last match – FC Lahti are a better team than PoPa Pori, admittedly, but 1-4 as a scoreline suggests poor defending en mass as FC Lahti are still missing their best attacker. PoPa are an attacking side by nature and they’re pretty good at it but I think they’re going to struggle against everyone in the division until they recover at least some of their three absent defenders. Irrespective of HiFK’s usual traits, I can’t help but think that over 2.5 goals at 9/10 is a good price, especially given that three out of PoPa’s last four games have gone over 2.5 goals.
Team news – PoPa Pori miss Viljanen, Aijala, Vuorinen, Koivunen, and Akbar.
Verdict: Over 2.5 goals at 9/10.
Accumulator fodder:
Velez Sarsfield.
Recommended bets:
Velez Sarsfield and AC Oulu at under 2/1.
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 to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
Toulon Tournament;
China vs Hungary (7) 1-2
France vs Mexico (5) 2-2
Copa Libertadores:
Velez Sarsfield vs Penarol (8) 2-0, at least one red card in this game
Chilean Primera Division:
Union La Calera vs Universidad Catolica (6) 0-1
Finnish Ykkonen:
Espoo vs KooTeePee Kotka (6)
HiFK Helsinki vs PoPa Pori (5) both sides to score
FC Lahti vs PS Kemi Kings (7)
Hameenlinna vs AC Oulu (7)
U21 International Friendlies:
Norway vs Sweden (6) 2-1
France vs Serbia (7) 1-0
Italian Serie B:
Reggina vs Novara (5)
Padova vs Varese (6)
Venezuelan Primera Division:
Real Esppor Club vs Deportivo Anzoategui (6) 1-1
Enjoy your free betting tips!