Ireland will have to respond to a physical Finland side, warns boss

Hannu Pikkumaki expects his team to be in for a battle against Ireland in their crunch UEFA Nations League tie on Saturday.

The Irish currently sit bottom of Group B1, three points behind third-placed Finland, with the two sides meeting in Dublin looking to avoid the relegation play-offs.

And Pikkumaki believes his team can come away with a result if they can match the physicality of their opponents.

"I think it's going to be a physical battle," he said.

"Ireland have some hard fighting players, so we have to respond to that. We know that they're going to come out hard and they're going to be physical, so we have to match that."

Finland come into the game on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Ukraine, while Ireland lost 1-0 to Scotland.

Pikkumaki is confident that his team can bounce back from that disappointment and get a positive result against Ireland.

"We're confident that we can get a result," he said.

"We know that it's going to be a tough game, but we're prepared for it. We've got a good team and we're confident that we can get the win."

The game will be played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday evening.