Aberdeen vs HJK prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-10-04 19:00.
An eye-catching 3-1 win over Rangers served as the perfect warm up for a return to UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) action for Aberdeen. That result stretched their winning run to three games since they were edged out 2-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt in their UECL group opener, and boss Barry Robson insists his side are “getting closer” to the level they need to be at ahead of HJK Helsinki’s visit.
A perfect record against Finnish opposition (W2) should boost belief Aberdeen can stretch their winning run here in their first UECL home game since August 2021. They’ll hope for a better result than the 3-1 reverse they suffered against Qarabağ back then, but with just one win from their four competitive home outings this term, this game maybe isn’t as cut-and-dry as Aberdeen’s favourites tag suggests.
While Aberdeen spent their weekend slogging it out with Rangers, HJK spent theirs with their feet up as they had no domestic fixture. HJK still top the Finnish Veikkausliiga in the Championship round, and after enjoying three days off since a 2-0 win against Honka on September 27th, returned to training on Sunday to prepare for a first visit to Scotland since 2012 bidding to avenge a 3-2 defeat to PAOK in their UECL group opener.
Both their two prior visits to this nation ended in defeat against Celtic, as they conceded exactly two goals on each occasion. Conceding goals on their travels isn’t exactly something alien to HJK, especially in the UECL, as all four of their travelling games in this competition have seen them concede at least twice (W1, L3), with each match also seeing their defence breached after the 80th minute.
Players to watch: Aberdeen’s Jamie McGrath was on target at the weekend, with three of his last four goals interestingly the second of the game. Bojan Radulović will probably again be HJK’s go-to man given he’s netted three of their last four UECL goals.
Hot stat: Neither Aberdeen (W3, L4) or HJK (W3, L6) have ever been involved in a UECL game that ended level.