PREVIEW: VPS - FC LAHTI Arch Bell - Thursday, July 30, 2009
Lawrence Smith and VPS take on another Europa League club this Sunday when they host eighth place FC Lahti at Hietalahti Stadium in Vaasa.
Smith will look to increase on his two goal total for the season when he starts at forward for head coach Petri Vuorinen.
For the second consecutive week, VPS squares off against a team that is also engaging in Europa League play.
Smith and his teammates fell to Honka last week and now take on Lahti who lost to Belgium's Club Brugge 3-2 on Thursday afternoon in the third round of the Europa League.
As for VPS, their recent string of results has been largely inconsistent so a win versus legendary forward Jari Litmanen and company would help propel the hosts back up the Veikkausliiga standings from their cuurent 10th place position.
With their foes going on just two days of rest and likely concentrating on their European competititon, Vuorinen will likely employ an attacking strategy to test the fatigued legs of the southern Finnish club.
The VPS head man does have to deal with a couple injuries as Petteri Forsell, Joacim Tuuri, Jyrki Saranpää and Jussi Äijälä all are questionable for Sunday's match.
Lahti head coach Ilkka Mäkelä should have a full squad to count on with the exception of defender Janne Moilanen who is still bothered by an injury suffered several weeks ago.
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