Getting closer to the top teams is at stake when these two mid-table clubs battle it out. Both will be aiming to improve their league table standing, Ventspils in 4th and Liepāja in 5th place.
It's no vacation for neither Ventspils nor Liepāja as both were in action only a few days ago. Expect some tired legs on the pitch and/or possibly some changes to the lineups.
Ventspils's stadium, Olimpiskā centra Ventspils Stadionā, has a artifical turf surface. Liepāja have grass on their own stadium. This might or might not make a difference, and to help evaluate that we give you the recent performance numbers for Liepāja when playing on artifical turf; 9 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses from 19 matches. They have scored 32 goals in these games and conceded 20.
Ventspils form and stats
Ventspils have performed here at Olimpiskā centra Ventspils Stadionā this season with 6 wins from 11 Virsliga matches. Some points have been lost, as they have drawn 4 games and lost 1.
An away draw last time out for Ventspils, facing Jelgava (after extra-time, 3-4 on penalties) in a game that ended 0-0. Before that match, a Virsliga win away at Spartaks Jūrmala.
This is expected to be a close game, with Ventspils perhaps considered small favourites due to their home advantage. Looking back at earlier matches similar to this one (expected to be close with Ventspils as a small favourite), we find one game. Ventspils has won zero of these, drawn one and lost zero.
There's a new fixture coming up fairly quickly for Ventspils, as the Latvian Cup home game vs Rīgas FS is only two days away.
Ventspils have proved capable of finding the net in their games here at Olimpiskā centra Ventspils Stadionā with 21 goals in 11 league matches. Ventspils have only conceded 9 from their league home games. For more goal stats, check the Statistics tab above.
Liepāja form and stats
4-2-5 is the win-draw-loss statistic for Liepāja in their Virsliga matches away.
It's the second away game in a row for Liepāja, but there's smiles all around after the 3-1 victory versus Spartaks Jūrmala (placed 6th) in the Latvian Cup last time out. It was a Virsliga defeat before that one as the away game against Riga wasn't a success with a 1-2 loss.
So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Liepāja playing away and similar expectations, we found six relevant matches. Results were one Liepāja win, four draws and one defeat.
There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Liepāja manager D. Molosh as the team has another away game coming up in only two days, this time against Valmiera / BSS.
With an average of more than two away goals per league game away, Liepāja are regular goalscorers on their travels. 15 goals have been conceded by Liepāja in these games.
Head 2 Head
This is the result when the teams met earlier this season; Liepāja - Ventspils 1-1. H2H stats regardless of arena (last ten matches): Ventspils six wins, two draws and Liepāja two victories. As for goals, four matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), six games had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  E. Kozlov 10 goals |   A. Karašausks 8 goals | K. Svarups 7 goals |
Ventspils missing players
Liepāja missing players
| Ventspils | Liepāja | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 22 | 11 | 1 | Played | P | 1 | 11 | 21 |
| 9 | 6 | 0 | Won | W | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 7 | 4 | 1 | Drew | D | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 6 | 1 | 0 | Lost | L | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 31 | 21 | 1 | Scored | S | 2 | 22 | 41 |
| 23 | 9 | 1 | Conceded | C | 2 | 15 | 32 |
| 91% | 91% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 77% | 91% | 100% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 100% | 100% | 95% |
| 45% | 45% | 0% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 100% | 73% | 71% |
| 23% | 27% | 0% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 100% | 36% | 43% |
| 9% | 18% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 18% | 24% |
| 50% | 45% | 100% | BTTS | BTTS | 100% | 55% | 62% |
| 27% | 45% | 0% | Clean Sheets | C S | 0% | 27% | 24% |
| 32% | 18% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 0% | 18% | 14% |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2.5 | 2.3 | 3 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 3 | 1.7 | 2.4 |
| 6 | 2 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 259 | 152 | 6 | Total Shots | T S | 11 | 107 | 225 |
| 94 | 56 | 2 | Shots on Target | S O | 5 | 61 | 104 |
| 33% | 38% | 50% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 40% | 36% | 39% |
- All of Liepāja's away-matches have had more than 1,5 goals.
- Liepāja has the fewest matches under the total-line (7) in Virsliga
- Liepāja have played more matches over 2,5 goals away than home.
- Liepāja haven’t played a single 0-0 game.
- Ventspils has the fewest matches over the total-line (9) in Virsliga
- Ventspils has the most matches under the total-line (13) in Virsliga
- Ventspils have scored at least twice as many goals as they have conceded at home.
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Riga | 22 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 51 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 6 | 37 | 60 |
| 2 | Rīgas FS | 21 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 55 | 19 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 10 | 36 | 51 |
| 3 | Valmiera / BSS | 22 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 39 | 28 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 18 | 11 | 39 |
| 4 | Ventspils | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 31 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 21 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 8 | 34 |
| 5 | Liepāja | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 41 | 32 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 17 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 29 |
| 6 | Spartaks Jūrmala | 22 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 39 | 39 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 20 | 0 | 28 |
| 7 | Jelgava | 22 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 17 | 42 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 22 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 20 | -25 | 21 |
| 8 | FC Daugavpils / Progress | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 28 | 38 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 17 | 20 | -10 | 19 |
| 9 | Metta / LU | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 41 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 24 | -22 | 16 |
| 10 | Tukums | 22 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 14 | 58 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 30 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 28 | -44 | 8 |