HJK Helsinki play host to Silkeborg at the Sonera Stadium in the first leg of their Europa League qualifying playoff round clash on Thursday.
The visiting side head into the game off the back of suffering their first loss of the 2022-23 Danish Superliga campaign and will look to quickly return to winning ways.
Match preview
Austrian midfielder Manuel Martic is also out of contention for the Finnish outfit as he continues his long road to full fitness after sustaining a leg injury against Rigas Futbola Skola in July.
Hostikka has been pivotal in HJK’s charge for a place in the Europa League group stages and the 24-year-old, who has scored one and assisted one of the Koskela’s side’s three goals in the qualifiers, should lead the attack, alongside Bojan Radulovic and Malik Abubakari.
As for Silkeborg, Nielsen will be unable to call upon the midfield duo of Andreas Oggesen and Niclas Holm Pedersen, who are recuperating from muscle and back injuries respectively.
Twenty-year-old defender Oscar Fuglsang is set to sit out his seventh consecutive game through a thigh problem, while Gustav Dahl and Alexander Lind are yet to feature for the Danish side this year due to long-term injuries.
HJK Helsinki possible starting lineup:
Hazard; Peltola, Tenho, Raitala; Browne, Hoskonen, Lingman, Murillo; Abubakari, Olusanya, Radulovic
Silkeborg possible starting lineup:
Larsen; Sonne, Salquist, Felix, Engel; Pordarson, Brink, Klynge; Jorgensen, Helenius, Vallys
Our Prediction
Over 1.5 Goals