National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Ilves or Oulu that keep their silverware dream alive.
It’s busy days for these teams as both were in action only a few days ago. There’s no rest for the wicked, or in this case; no rest for Ilves and Oulu.
Ilves form and stats
Last season, Ilves's Finland Cup journey ended in the 4th round.Ilves's struggle is real here at Ratinan Stadion with only 11 points collected from 11 Veikkausliiga games. The win-draw-lost numbers are ugly: 2-5-4.
It's back home for Ilves, who return with a good feeling about themselves after beating Oulu away with the result 3-0. Ala-Myllymäki, Sabit and Araújo found the net in that victory.
Ahead of that match, Ilves lost 0-3 at home to KuPS.The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Ilves have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found 14 games) they have won 8 times, drawn 1 and lost 5.
There will be little rest for Ilves after this match as they are travelling to Honka for a Veikkausliiga game in only four days.
The goals haven't exactly been flowing for Ilves here at Ratinan Stadion in the league, with less than one goal per game on average (10 from 11 games). 15 goals have been conceded.
Oulu form and stats
Oulu's mission in Finland Cup last season failed in the 6th round.As the visiting team in Veikkausliiga matches, Oulu have produced an overall stat of 5-2-3 so far.
The manager Duarte was unhappy after their last game, played at their home venue Raatin stadion. Oulu suffered a 0-3 loss to Ilves.
A 1-1 draw was the result before that, hosting Lahti in the Veikkausliiga.Oulu are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is 6 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats. From a total of 14 matches.
After this away game Oulu return home for a Veikkausliiga game against HJK. That game is only four sleeps after this.
Oulu has displayed an ability to score goals in away matches in the league this season, 16 goals from 10 games. In the opposite end, Oulu have conceded 15 goals in their away games.
Head 2 Head
Data for the preceeding ten meetings involving these two teams are: four wins for Ilves, two draws and four wins for Oulu. Over 2,5 goals: five times; under 2,5 goals: five games.
Top Goalscorers
  A. Coffey 10 goals |  N. Jokelainen 5 goals | R. Karjalainen 5 goals |
Ilves missing players
Oulu missing players
| Ilves | Oulu | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 13 | Played | P | 13 | 25 | ||
| 9 | 4 | Won | W | 7 | 11 | ||
| 8 | 5 | Drew | D | 2 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 4 | Lost | L | 4 | 8 | ||
| 36 | 17 | Scored | S | 23 | 38 | ||
| 25 | 17 | Conceded | C | 19 | 37 | ||
| 92% | 92% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 96% | ||
| 76% | 85% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 92% | 92% | ||
| 44% | 54% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 77% | 68% | ||
| 20% | 23% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 31% | 28% | ||
| 8% | 8% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 23% | 16% | ||
| 52% | 69% | BTTS | BTTS | 77% | 68% | ||
| 28% | 15% | Clean Sheets | C S | 8% | 12% | ||
| 28% | 23% | Failed to Score | F T | 15% | 24% | ||
| 6.1 | 6.5 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 4.9 | 4.3 | ||
| 4 | 4.1 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.3 | 4.7 | ||
| 2.4 | 2.4 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 3.2 | 2.5 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 2 | ||
| 11 | 10.8 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 8.8 | 8 | ||
| 4.4 | 4 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 4.2 | 3.6 | ||
| 32% | 33% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 43% | 42% | ||
| 8.7 | 7.5 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 10.8 | 9.1 | ||
| 3 | 2.7 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.1 | 3.3 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | KuPS | 20 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 30 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 19 | 41 |
| 2 | HJK | 20 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 34 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 15 | 11 | 18 | 40 |
| 3 | SJK | 20 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 26 | 21 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 35 |
| 4 | Oulu | 20 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 30 | 32 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 17 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 15 | -2 | 31 |
| 5 | VPS | 20 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 26 | 21 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 5 | 30 |
| 6 | Honka | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 19 | 16 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 29 |
| 7 | Inter Turku | 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 17 | -1 | 25 |
| 8 | Ilves | 20 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 22 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 7 | -4 | 20 |
| 9 | Haka | 20 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 24 | 35 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 9 | 22 | -11 | 20 |
| 10 | KTP | 20 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 29 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 15 | -11 | 20 |
| 11 | Lahti | 19 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 26 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 13 | -10 | 19 |
| 12 | Mariehamn | 20 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 15 | -11 | 15 |
