Aron Wright - April 23, 2018
Rovaniemi RoPS vs Lahti
Finland – Veikkausliiga
Date: Wednesday, 25th April 2018
Kick-off at 16:30 UK/ 17:30 CET
Venue: Keskuskentta (Rovaniemi).
Rovaniemi host FC Lahti in the battle of unbeaten teams in the early days of 2018 Veikkausliiga season.
Rops won their first four matches of the campaign with clean sheets and is arguably their best start to a league campaign in ages. One of those wins came away at last season’s runner-up KuPS and results like these can boost the confidence of a team that finished midtable last season.
Lahti finished fourth last season, and they made a strong start as well, but not as spectacular as their Wednesday’s host. Their first two matches of the campaign were against newly promoted sides. There were quite a few nervy moments in the 3-2 home win against TPS and were then held to a goal-less draw at Honka. But the weekend’s 2-0 home win against last season’s third placed Ilves means that there is no reason to be panic.
The last two meetings between these two sides are 1-1 draws, both played at Lahti’s home ground.
Rovaniemi won their last two home games against Lahti with clean sheets – 1-0 last season and 3-0 in the previous.
Both sides are in good spirits and this could be the match neither managers want to lose. They have the insurance from having strong defensive units, therefore goals are expected to be at a premium. RoPS have kept 4 clean sheets on the bounce whereas Lahti tightened their defense after a few odd moments on matchday 1. So, under 2.5 goals seem to be the go-to-bet for this Finnish Veikkausliiga fixture.
Under 2.5 goals @ 1.62 odd with 1xBet
FT Draw @ 3.28 odd with the same bookmaker.