AS Roma vs HJK Helsinki Preview

AS Roma will welcome HJK to Rome this Thursday for the second round of the 2022/23 Europa League group stage.

The hosts entered Group C as the favourites after a successful end to their previous campaign when they won the Europa Conference League and a strong start to their Serie A campaign.

However, they fell flat on their face at the first hurdle as they were beaten 2-1 by Ludogorets in the opening round.

That result came on the back of a 4-1 defeat by Udinese handing the Rome-based side their first back-to-back losses in any competition for the first time since early this year.

However, they bounced back from those pair of losses in the league last time out as they beat Empoli 2-1 on Monday night.

With their target for this year being to finish top of their group, Jose Mourinho will know that only a win in this game will keep that target possible. He can count on his side to bounce back on Thursday at their home stadium where they have won both matches this season ‘to-nil’ and also hold their longest unbeaten home run in European competition (W13, D6).

Meanwhile, HJK were beaten 2-0 at home by Real Betis in their first game of the UEL campaign last week.

Willian Jose scored a brace in a game that saw the visitors fail to score in a competitive game for the first time in ten games.

However, they put their disappointment in Europe behind them over the weekend, recording a 2-1 win over Honka on Sunday in domestic competition.

That result ensured that they top the Finish Veikkausliiga table by two points as they go in search of their third consecutive domestic title.

The visitors will now travel to Rome hoping that they can translate their dominance in the domestic league to Europe where they are hoping to avoid a similar fate to their only previous UEL campaign in 2014/15 when they lost each of their three away matches.