Ilves take on the visitors Inter Turku in the round 15 match of Finnish Veikkausliiga. The match will be played on Wednesday, May 20th at Tammelan Stadion (Tampere).
Ilves were posting respectable results not so long ago. In 2023, they reclaimed the domestic cup, and the following season produced their best league finish in four decades by climbing to second place. True, they then slipped slightly, losing out by just a single point to their current opponent. But right now, the team from Tampere have frankly disappointed their supporters. They began with a pair of defeats, then at least started alternating those setbacks with draws, regularly responding to conceded goals with goals of their own. They did at least manage to beat Oulu. Ilves have looked lively in attacking phases, but their inability to control matches defensively has made life unnecessarily difficult throughout the opening stretch. Even when they generate momentum, they have struggled to turn it into complete performances over ninety minutes. Against HJK, however, they were once again only able to trade blows, with both sides scoring twice in an entertaining and hard-fought 2-2 draw.
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Inter Turku are trying to hold on to the positions they earned last year. The Black-and-Blues are not lacking in ambition. But for several seasons in a row, they had been stuck among the league’s mid-table sides. Only in 2025 did they truly remind everyone of their quality — not enough to challenge runaway leaders KuPS on equal footing, but enough to snatch second place from this very opponent, edging them 61 points to 60. This season, after retaining the League Cup, they followed up a goalless draw with VPS by winning three straight matches. But by the end of April, their form dipped. First, despite taking the lead at home, they could only draw with HJK, then lost 0-2 to Gnistan. Inter Turku have since shown signs of regaining rhythm, particularly in matches where they can impose a more direct tempo. Their recent results suggest a team beginning to rediscover the balance that made them such a difficult opponent last season. At least in the latest rounds, things have started to stabilize again — they followed up with two-goal wins over both Jaro and SJK.
In the head-to-head meetings, the Black-and-Blues have won six of the last seven encounters, with just one defeat, including four consecutive victories. The visitors look quite interesting at the moment. We’ll take the risk of backing them to get the job done here — the pick is an away win.
Prediction for the match: Inter Turku to win.
