HJK vs Lahti 11/04/2024
The second round of the Veikkausliiga starts on Thursday with a juicy clash HJK vs Lahti. Will the defending champions put their first points on the board? Can Lahti repeat what they did in Helsinki last July?
Here is our preview of the HJK vs Lahti match, which promises to be exciting and competitive.
HJK latest: Is revenge on the cards for HJK in this fixture?
Defending champions HJK opened the 2024 Veikkausliiga campaign with an unpleasant 1-3 away loss against KuPS. It was the insecure defending that led to this loss.
During the 2023 campaign, HJK lost only twice at home all season. The second of those defeats was in a meaningless match when the title was already won. However, the first one was exactly against Lahti midway through the season, a 0-1 defeat.
HJK team news
Promising winger Santeri Hostikka is one of four players set to miss this match. He is sick. None of the others who will be absent was likely to make the squad for the game anyway.
Changes can be expected. After recovering from injuries and illness all of Diogo Tomas, Joona Toivio and Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan are in contention to make their first appearances of the season.
HJK player to watch: Anthony Olusanya
Our choice for a player to watch from the home team for the HJK vs Lahti falls on striker Anthony Olusanya. This season it seems he will be trusted to lead the attack. Olusanya will be eager to impress for certain after he registered an unfortunate own goal in round 1.
HJK vs Lahti line-up
Ost (GK), Lyons-Foster, Moros, Tomas, Pallas, Kanellopoulos, Sarpei, Lingman, Bande, Plange, Olusanya
Lahti latest: Can they make it three in a row?
The match HJK vs Lahti allows the visitors to record their third consecutive win against the giants from Helsinki. After beating them 1-0 in a league contest last July Lahti also beat HJK 3-0 in February this year in a League Cup match.
Lahti opened the new campaign with a 0-0 away draw against Ilves Tampere. It wasn’t the best of displays but defensively they stood tall and with a bit of luck earned this point.
For a good few years now Lahti has only fighting for survival and more of the same can be expected in 2024 with the team once again revamped during the off-season. In round 1 seven new players made their full debuts.
Lahti team news
Lahti has selection problems at the left-back position for this game. The two main options for that role Pablo Andrade and Daniel Koskipalo are missing the match injured.
Not many changes to the line-up are expected compared to round 1.
Lahti player to watch: Mikko Viitikko
The team’s new centre-back Mikko Viitikko was the best player on the pitch in round 1. More of the same will be needed from him for Lahti to steal something from the coming match. Despite being a new player Viitikko is regarded so much that he was made the team’s captain for the 2024 campaign.
HJK vs Lahti line-up
Munukka (GK), Selander, Fox, Viitikko, Tauriainen, Könkkölä, Virta, Koskinen, Odutayo, Lopez, Ivanovic
HJK vs Lahti – head-to-head and other stats
- HJK vs Lahti H2H – W41 D18 L19 – Lahti scored at least one goal in all of the last six matches between the sides.
- In 9 of the last 10 H2Hs, there were at least 4 yellow cards shown.
- When being able to score more than one goal HJK are undefeated at home since October 2021.