IFK Mariehamn - HJK Helsinki preview

Very interesting differences in odds setting. Local bookie offer 1.65 for HJK, Nordicbet price is 2.15! Obviously at least one of them is wrong. Interesting to see what the asians opening line will be.

MIFK – HJK

IFK had an easy cup match on Wednesday in Helsinki, and HJK had to work for full 90 minutes on Thursday vs. Honka with a best possible line-up, only Danny Hoesen was rested.

IFK have the home advantage and HJK have the disadvantage of long travel and the Thursday match, but usually HJK have emerged as winners from this fixture, and despite the missings in defence they get a decent line-up for the starting eleven, only the bench is a bit short from defense department.

IFK have started poorly the season, they should be about the same quality of team that finished 4^th last season, but they have not produced and have had to learn the football from A to Z, at the moment the goal-keeper problem seems to be solved, and the defence is in order. A couple of goals vs. Gnistan in the cup also might help them mentally, but they have yet to win in the league. However they are not that poor as the table suggests and they will start climbing from trouble zone sooner or later.

Both teams played a goalless draw in the the league last round, and in the history of Veikkausliiga MIFK have not yet won HJK, but there have been 5 goalless draws out of 15 latest matches and 0-0 is a good starting point for this fixture.

IFK do not have the habit of losing at home, and the poor start 0-1-2 this season is down to poor form and mental issues, in the league cup this season they won both TPS and Lahti at home and drew with Honka.

HJK are just slightly the favourites here, but IFK´s first win of the season could not come to a better place and they have again the full support of the city of Mariehamn.

The eurobookers seem to overestimate HJK a lot, which is understandable in the light of the results and the table and the fame, but the match exhaustion, travel, injured center-back Kärkkäinen and improved IFK performances would make me hesitate before taking any ”sure” away wins here.

Unsurpsingly the Portuguese striker André Martins has been sent back to where he came from, he had very little to offer to MIFK.

Probable line-ups

IFK : Ochieng – Rikama – Voloshyn - Dujilo - Okodugha – Olofsson - Gruborovics - Niskala – Forsell - Anttilainen - Paatelainen.

HJK : Wallen – Sumusalo (Kansikas) – Ojala - Magnusson - Rafinha – Fowler (Saarinen) - Medo – Bah - Sorsa(Westö) – Mäkelä - Hoesen.