SJK vs KuPS Match Preview

SJK is ranked at 6th place with 31 points and comes after two wins and three losses over the last five matches. It has not been a very exciting season for them as they barely managed to secure a spot in the Championship group. And judging their past performances I guess this was the best they could do. They lost four of the last ten duels and during the regular season, they had the worst attack among the teams qualifying in the Championship group and the second worst defense.

Now they will have to face teams even better than them and we saw how they lost against HJK in the past duel. Even during the Europa Conference League qualifiers, they got demolished by Lillestrom with a 6-2 aggregate result. It seems they lack the quality needed to compete here and considering also the 10 points distance from the Europa League zone I see no big motivation on their side.

KuPS, on the other side, is ranked at 2nd place with 47 points and comes after three wins a draw, and a loss over the last five matches. They sit five points behind first-placed HJK but being one game short gives them the golden chance to shorten the difference to only two points. They come fresh from winning the Suomen Cup as they beat Inter Turku in the final with a tight 1-0 result. 

In the Europa Conference League, they did better than SJK as they reached the semis and lost against a team like Young Boys. They had the best defensive side with only 16 goals conceded in 22 games and combining this with the fact that their rivals have a poor attack gives them some advantage here despite being on the road.

In conclusion, I think KuPS can manage to win or draw this game. SJK is just playing poor football for the moment and with each week passing, they lose interest in the results. KuPs is the better team and being in the fight for the title I do not see how they could lose here. The motivation will be at its highest considering they come as winners of the Cup and already secured a spot in the European competitions for the next season.