Preview: Silkeborg vs. HJK Helsinki – prediction, team news, lineups
Sports Mole presents Thursday’s European League match between Silkeborg and HJK Helsinki, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Silkeborg and HJK Helsinki go head-to-head at JYSK Park in their second leg Europa League in the playoffs of the qualifier on Thursday.
The Danish side have won their last four home matches in all competitions and will be looking to keep the momentum going as they try to overturn their first leg defeat.
Match preview
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Silkeborg received a much-needed morale boost ahead of Thursday’s comeback attempt when they beat Nordsjaelland 2-0 away from home in the Danish Superliga on Sunday.
Toni Adamsen produced a superb first half performance at Right to Dream Park as he struck twice in the opening hour to give the visitors all three points.
Kent NielsenThe men at the top of the Superliga table, who won four of their opening six games and drew one, are now focused on the Europa League qualifiers, where they lost 1-0 to HJK Helsinki last Thursday.
In a game where Andre Calisir got his marching orders, the 26-year-old forward David Browne made the difference at the Sonera Stadium as his 80th minute strike was enough to separate the sides.
However, Silkeborg believe they can turn things around on Thursday as they go into the game with six wins from their last seven home games, including the last two since the start of July.
Elsewhere, HJK Helsinki continued to cruise in the race for the Finnish Veikkausliiga championship with a comfortable 3-0 win against FC Haka at Tehtaan Kenta Stadium on Sunday.
First half goals Anthony Olusanya, Bojan Radulovic and Aapo Halme saw the Club take their fourth win from five league games and move level with KuPS and Honka at the top of the table.
Toni KoskelaThe team’s teams have now turned their attention to the Europa League qualifiers, where they are now just 90 minutes away from a place in the group stages after last week’s first leg.
HJK continue their three-match winning streak in all competitions on Thursday, while they are unbeaten in their last six games, with five wins and one draw since July’s 5-0 loss against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League qualifiers.
Silkeborg Europa League format:
Silkeborg form (all competitions):
HJK Helsinki Europa League format:
HJK Helsinki format (all competitions):
Team news
Calisir received a straight red in the first leg and the veteran defender is out of contention for Thursday’s match. Joel Felix possibly to take his place in the XI.
On the injury front, Silkeborg enters the field without services Oscar Fuglsangwho has been out of action since he was injured in June’s match against Copenhagen.
Twosome Gustav Dahl and Alexander Lind won’t play in Wednesday’s match as they are yet to feature in the Danish squad this year as they struggle with long-term injuries.
Andreas Oggesen returned from a two-game injury lay-off to make 14 minutes at the weekend, and the 28-year-old midfielder should feature in the matchday squad on Thursday.
As for HJK Helsinki, Koskela will have to settle for the absence of the Austrian midfielder Manuel Marticwho suffered a leg injury in a match against Rigas Futbola Skola in July.
Finnish duo Roope Risk and defender Valtteri Moren are out of contention away from home as they continue their journey towards full fitness after both suffering from long-term knee injuries.
Silkeborg’s possible starting line-up:
Larsen; Sonne, Salquist, Felix, Engel; Pordarson, Brink, Klynge; Jorgensen, Vallys, Helenius
HJK Helsinki possible starting line-up:
Wrong; Tenho, Hoskonen, Raitala; Browne, Tanaka, Vaananen, Lingman, Murillo; Hostikka, Abubakari
We say: Silkeborg 1-1 HJK Helsinki (HJK Helsinki wins 2-1 on aggregate)
Silkeborg and HJK are evenly matched heading into Thursday and we expect a tight contest that should be decided by a nice margin. Although Silkeborg are slight favorites to come out on top – due to their home advantage – we predict the visitors will keep their share of the win and achieve an aggregate victory.
To analyze the most likely results, score points and other information of this match Click here.