Kauno Zalgiris team news: Struijk ruled out, Hinshelwood in contention

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Albion play their first of six league phase matches on Thursday.

Charlie Hanson

2026-10-14T14:20+01:00

Pascal Struijk will miss Thursday night's game in the UEFA Conference League. 📸 by James Boardman.

Albion begin their campaign in the league phase of the UEFA Conference League on Thursday night when they take on Kauno Zalgiris at the Amex, kick-off 8pm.

Tickets for the game can be purchased here.

Team news

Femi Azeez is yet to make a first team appearance for Albion. 📸 by James Boardman.

Fabian Hurzeler provided updates on Pascal Struijk, Jack Hinshelwood, Femi Azeez and Zadok Yohanna at his pre-match press conference.

On whether he will make changes for the game: "We will try to manage the players and the energy from them, so there will definitely be changes. I can't say how many. It will be an opportunity for some players."

On Pascal Struijk: "He had some issues during the international break, he played 60 minutes against Sunderland but we try to manage him. He won't be available tomorrow, but hopefully he will be back at the end of the week for Palace.

On Jack Hinshelwood: "We can expect him to return."

On Femi Azeez: "There's no big issue, he's similar to Zadok. We give them the environment to adapt to our demands and to how we want to play. it might take a little bit of time."

How did Kauno Zalgiris reach this stage?

The FK Kauno Zalgiris players celebrate Sunday's cup final victory. 📷FK Kauno Zalgiris.

This is the first time that Kauno Zalgiris have reached the group/league phase of European competition. The champions of Lithuania qualified for this year’s UEFA Conference League having tried to qualify for the Champions League and Europa League through the playoff stages.