Finland v Faroe Islands background

Finland have won all four of their previous meetings with the Faroe Islands, and a victory over Greece in their first game under Markku Kanerva has boosted their Group F hopes.

• Jóan Edmundsson is suspended following his red card against Northern Ireland on Friday. The following players are a yellow card away from a ban: Paulus Arajuuri, Perparim Hetemaj, Tim Sparv (Finland), Fródi Benjaminsen, Hallur Hansson and Brandur Olsen (Faroe Islands).

Previous meetings
• Finland trailed at half-time but battled back to secure a 3-1 win in Torshavn in their first Group F meeting with the Faroe Islands.

• Finland's record in four games against the Faroes is now W4 D0 L0: W1 D0 L0 in Finland – W2 D0 L0 in the Faroe Islands, with the other game played on neutral territory – a friendly in La Manga, Spain.

• Christian Holst's strike in the sides' first Group F encounter was the Faroes' first goal in four meetings with Finland.

Form guide
• Finland are without a win in their last four competitive home games (D1 L3).

• The Faroes' 1-0 victory in Greece earlier in the campaign was their first competitive away win in 35 outings (33 defeats, one draw) since a 2-0 success in Luxembourg on 24 March 2001.

• The Faroes have been unusually durable on the road in this qualifying campaign, scoring once and conceding only three in three games so far. They are on target to improve on their best ever away qualifying campaign, which was for UEFA EURO 2000, when they conceded only ten in five away games – an average of two per game.

Trivia and links
• Christian Holst is poised to win his 50th cap in the Finland game.

• Finland's Sparv and the Faroes' Sonni Nattestad used to be team-mates in Denmark at FC Mitdjylland.

• Finland's Jukka Raitala and the Faroes' Gilli Sørensen also play together in the Superliga with Aalborg BK.

• The 16 UEFA competition meetings between the nations' clubs have left the Finnish sides with the record W10 D4 L2. Most recently, Myllykosken Pallo-47 eliminated ÍF Fuglafjørdur 1-0 on aggregate in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.

• The nations' four UEFA age-group competition meetings have also all been won by Finland, but there is encouragement for the Faroes; the margins of defeat have got smaller since a 7-0 loss at Under-16 level in 1997. They scored their first goal against Finland at any men's or women's international level in their most recent encounter, a 3-1 loss at Under-16 level in 1999: Arnhold Berg was the man on target.