Gameweek four in the Europa League will see Rakow Czestochowa look to keep their tournament hopes alive when they head to Estadio Jose Alvalade to take on Sporting Lisbon on Thursday evening.
The reverse fixture between these sides ended 1-1 a couple of weeks ago, which saw the hosts move to four points in second place while the visitors are at the bottom of the standings with only one point at the halfway point of the group stages.
Match preview
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Sporting Lisbon head into this match off the back of a very good 3-2 win over Estrela last weekend, where they had to come from behind, with Paulinho grabbing the winner just 10 minutes before the final whistle.
That results took them to six games unbeaten in all competitions, including five wins and a draw, while also keeping them at the top of the Primeira Liga, leading defending champions Benfica by three points.
However, the Lions have not been able to put up the same type of results in this competition during the first half of the group stages, managing just one win so far, which came against Sturm Graz back in week one.
In their last match against this opponent, Ruben Amorim's side played the majority of the match with 10 men after Viktor Gyokeres was shown a straight red inside the first 10 minutes, and despite keeping their opponents out for the next hour, their defence was eventually breached, costing them two valuable points.
Nevertheless, the hosts are strongly fancied to claim all three points back on their home patch, where they have been formidable, winning nine of their last ten matches and losing just once in their last 22, dating back to mid-February.
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Meanwhile, Rakow Czestochowa went in as the underdogs against this opponent a fortnight ago but claimed a much-needed point, which kept their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive, though not by much.
That was the Medallions' only point in this competition to date, and being three points below the sides above them in the group, it will take an extraordinary set of results to see them qualify if they do not win this match.
Dawid Szwarga's side failed to surprise when they lost 2-0 to Atalanta in week one when Vladan Kovacevic did excellently to keep the scoreline respectable, and it was a fairly similar story in the second group match as well.
The visitors have also slipped to fourth place on the Ekstraklasa table, and despite winning their last match 5-0 against Zaglebie Lubin, that was their only victory earned in regulation time in five matches in all competitions.
While they may still hope for more to come from within their ranks, a realistic target for Rakow would be to battle for a third-place finish in the group from here, which secures them a path to the knockout stages of the Conference League.
Team News
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Gyokeres will have to sit this one out after his red card against this opposition two weeks ago, which will likely mean that Paulinho, who scored the winner against Estrela last week, will start among the front three.
Marcus Edwards and Pedro Goncalves are expected to line up on either side of Paulinho, with Morten Hjulmand and Hidemasa Morita forming the central midfield partnership.
In the opposite dugout, Szwarga has three long-term absentees, with Zoran Arsenic (broken ankle), Ivi Lopez (cruciate ligament tear), and Stratos Svarnas (adductor tear) all out for the foreseeable future.
Lukasz Zwolinski (knock) and Adrian Gryszkiewicz (meniscus tear) will also miss this match through injury and are expected to return in a month, barring any setbacks in their recoveries.
Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Israel; Diomande, Coates, Inacio; Esgaio, Hjulmand, Morita, Reis; Goncalves, Paulinho, Edwards
Rakow Czestochowa possible starting lineup:
Kovacevic; Tudor, Racovitan, Rundic; Silva, Berggren, Lederman, Plavsic; Yeboah, Crnac, Nowak
We say: Sporting Lisbon 2-1 Rakow Czestochowa
While Sporting Lisbon have not done as well as they would have expected in the first half of the group stages, they do have two home games to come in their last three matches and will be targeting nothing less than three points in both of those. They were a tad unlucky to drop two points the last time these sides met, but we do not expect them to make the same mistake this time.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
