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Finland invite Ukraine to Helsinki Olympic Stadium on Saturday as 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying first-round action resumes this weekend in Europe.
The hosts and the visiting side have both earned five points from their outings so far and will be hoping to cement the second spot and secure passage into the playoffs scheduled to take place next year.
Ukraine have been unbeaten in the qualification campaign so far and have played five consecutive draws here. Finland have played two draws and have a win and a loss to their name.
Finland vs Ukraine Head-to-Head
The two sides have met three times so far, with all the meetings coming in FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The first two meetings were part of the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, which Ukraine won.
They last met in March in the reverse fixture at The Olympic National Sports Complex. The game ended in a 1-1 draw with Junior Moraes and Teemu Pukki scoring in the 80th and 89th minute respectively.
Finland form guide (all competitions): L-W-D-L-L
Ukraine form guide (all competitions): D-D-D-L-W
Finland vs Ukraine Team News
Finland
Daniel O'Shaughnessy and Jere Uronen are the two players ruled out with injuries for the hosts. Captain Tim Sparv is dealing with fitness issues and is yet to be named in the final squad.
Apart from the three players mentioned above, all 24 players named in the squad have trained ahead of the game and are in contention to start here.
Injured: Daniel O'Shaughnessy, Jere Uronen
Doubtful: Tim Sparv
Suspended: None
Ukraine
Regular starters Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ruslan Malinovskyi are the two notable absentees from the 24-man squad announced for the qualifiers due to injuries.
Injured: Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ruslan Malinovskyi
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Finland vs Ukraine Predicted XI
Finland Predicted XI (3-5-2): Lukas Hradecky; Leo Väisänen, Joona Toivio, Paulus Arajuuri; Albin Granlund, Nikolai Alho, Nicholas Hämäläinen, Glen Kamara, Onni Valakari; Robin Lod, Teemu Pukki
Ukraine Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Andriy Pyatov; Illya Zabarnyi, Mykola Matviyenko, Oleksandr Tymchyk; Oleksandr Karavayev, Mykola Shaparenko, Viktor Tsyhankov, Eduard Sobol; Andriy Yarmolenko, Alexander Zubkov; Roman Yaremchuk
Finland vs Ukraine Prediction
Finland have scored just four goals in the qualification campaign so far and, after their win over Kazakhstan, fell to a 2-0 defeat to France last month. Ukraine will be without two big names for the game and that might impact their performance here.
Given Finland's home advantage and the performances of the two teams this year, a low-scoring draw is the most likely outcome from the game.
Prediction: Finland 1-1 Ukraine
