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Motherwell’s Conference League chances rated by HJK insider as Alfred Johansson earns instant praise Former Aberdeen star Topi Keskinen thinks the Steelmen are favourites against his old side Topi Keskinen reckons Motherwell are favourites going into their Europa Conference League clash with HJK. The Finnish international thinks Alfred Johansson’s men have the slightest advantage going into the clash against his old side. The Steelmen travel to Helsinki to take on HJK in the first-leg of their qualifier in the Bolt Arena on Thursday. Keskinen said: “It looks to be quite an even game on paper. I would probably make Motherwell the slight favourites. “They are in better form and are winning games. “Motherwell, they have changed a lot of their team from last season. "They were excellent last year. I’ve been watching the results from Motherwell’s games. “They are still winning games and scoring goals despite all the changes at the club. They look to be in a really good place under their new manager.” The former Aberdeen star thinks HJK will need to get a result at home. Otherwise, he thinks their European assault could be over before it has really begun. He warned: “The first game is in Helsinki on Thursday. “I would think that HJK will need to get a result at home. “If they don’t then you would have to back Motherwell. “Motherwell have played a few games on artificial surfaces, but it's never the same. “In Europe that was a really big advantage for HJK. “HJK needs to go to Scotland with some to protect. “HJK are normally stronger at home than away. I know they won in Northern Ireland but I would say Motherwell away would be a far tougher proposition. “Going back to when I was at HJK and playing in Europe it was the same. We were better at home than on our travels. We had to do well at home to give ourselves a chance.” Johansson has taken over from Jens Berthel Askou. He has also lost a number of key players but has hit the ground running with three wins. They beat Faroese side Havnar Boltfelag home and away and then took care of Hibs away in their Premiership opener. HJK demolished Coleraine home and away but are toiling domestically. Keskinen knows it is a period of transition for the heavy weights from the Finnish capital. The Odense winger admitted: “They got two good results in the last round against Coleraine. These sort of games are normally a challenge for HJK but they won both games against the Northern Irish side quite convincingly. That will give them a lot of confidence going into this game. “Although they did lose away to SJK in the league earlier this week. “If you play at HJK there is a pressure to win every game. “It just hasn’t happened for them in recent seasons, but the expectations are still there. “There is also more of a buzz at the Bolt Arena when it comes to European games to the domestic games. “These games are different for HJK.” HJK still have some survivors from the team that Keskinen played in his time there, from 2024-25. “There's a few players who are still there,” he insisted. “I’ve been following them quite a lot. “There's Lucas Lingman, the midfielder. “He plays all the time, basically. “He was there when I was playing there. “He's a really good player. “The goalkeeper Jesse Ost was also there when I was at HJK. “He is a good solid keeper. “Their team has changed quite a bit since I was there. “When I signed there, we won the championship, but we had a really good team. “I stayed there for half a season after that one and almost 60% of the players were gone. They've been trying to do some rebuild now, but it's not been working really well because there's been so much change to the club." The last time HJK faced Scottish opposition was three seasons ago in the group stages of the Europa Conference League. Keskinen was still there and played out two draws with Aberdeen, which helped him win a big-money move to Pittodrie. He recalled: “The home game against Aberdeen we were disappointed with the point. “We were leading 2-0 and it ended as a draw. “We were happy when we got the draw away to Aberdeen. We scored first and that was a good result for us. Aberdeen had more shots and pressure, but we managed to get a point.” Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources . Click HERE. Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.