Red Star Belgrade will be looking to strengthen their hold on top spot in Europa League Group F when they travel to FC Midtjylland on Thursday evening.
The Serbian champions have taken six points from six so far and lead the way at the top, while Midtjylland are bottom of the standings with just one point to their name.
Match preview
© Reuters
Red Star snatched a late win against Braga in their opening group game through Aleksandar Katai's 85th-minute penalty before edging out Ludogorets 1-0 last time out.
The Red-Whites are now unbeaten in their last nine Europa League matches, winning five of those and keeping a clean sheet in four of their last seven outings.
Dejan Stankovic's men are also looking strong domestically as they thrashed FK Kolubara 7-1 at the weekend to make it 50 games without defeat in the Serbian SuperLiga.
Advancing in the Europa League will be Stankovic's main target this side of the new year and his side can move a step closer to achieving that win another victory on Thursday.
Only one side is guaranteed a spot in the last 16, with the team in second place advancing to a preliminary round, so Midtjylland know only a win will realistically do for them.
© Reuters
The Wolves have taken the lead in their opening two games, but they could only manage a 1-1 draw with Ludogorets before going down 3-1 to Braga.
Midtjylland have now conceded at least once in each of their last nine Europa League ties since keeping a clean sheet in their very first game in the competition in September 2015.
Bo Henriksen's side were held 2-2 by Nordsjaelland in the Danish Superliga at the weekend, meanwhile, though they are still three points clear at the top of the division.
Domestic matters will be put to one side for the time being, however, with a first home win in five attempts in the Europa League very much needed on Thursday.
- D
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Red Star have momentum on their side and Stankovic will surely not want to tinker with things too much.
That could see a similar starting lineup fielded against Midtjylland as the one used against Kolubara on Saturday.
Njegos Petrovic and Comoros international striker Ben are among those pushing for recalls after being introduced as half-time substitutes last time out.
As for the hosts, Henriksen made a triple substitution at half time with his side two goals down to Nordsjaelland and that paid off as they battled back to claim a point.
Raphael Onyedika, Nikolas Dyhr and Marrony may therefore come into Henriksen's thoughts for a place in the XI, while Pione Sisto seems likely to lead the line.
FC Midtjylland possible starting lineup:
Olafsson; Dalsgaard, Sviatchenko, Juninho; Andersson, Onyedika, Evander, Paulinho; Isaksen, Sisto, Brumado
Red Star Belgrade possible starting lineup:
Popovic; Erakovic, Sanogo, Pankov; Gobeljic, Kaku, Srnic, Rodic; Ivanic; Ben, Diony
We say: FC Midtjylland 0-2 Red Star Belgrade
Red Star are in superb form and will be confident of making it three wins from three in Group F in this first-ever meeting with Midtjylland.
The hosts are in desperate need of a win if they are to have any hope of catching their opponents, but their home form in Europe makes that unlikely to happen this week.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a FC Midtjylland win with a probability of 55.34%. A draw had a probability of 24.1% and a win for Red Star Belgrade had a probability of 20.56%.
The most likely scoreline for a FC Midtjylland win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.35%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.43%) and 2-1 (9.67%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.44%), while for a Red Star Belgrade win it was 0-1 (6.77%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.4% likelihood.
