Preview

April 14, Kharkiv, OSC Metalist, 17:00
Live broadcast on Futbol 2 channel
 
Before the game
 
Shakhtar will meet with the only title race competitors (as the rest lost even the mathematical chances of winning the title). There is a 6-point gap between Shakhtar and Dynamo before the Saturday encounter. Paulo Fonseca’s men have delivered some record-breaking performance in 2018 by securing 7 straight clean-sheet wins.
 
On April 12, the Orange-and-Blacks conducted an open training session, with Taras Stepanenko and Marlos exercising in the general group. The team has no suspended players, with all the players without exception getting ready for the Ukrainian ‘Clasico’.

Opponents
 
Dynamo have 17 wins and 6 draws in 26 games in the current league campaign. The White-and-Blues are the second in the table for performance (54 goals), being the third after Shakhtar and Veres in terms of the defensive safety (22). The midfielder Viktor Tsyhankov boasts a great run of form (6 goals in 7 recent rounds) along with the forward Artem Besedin (3 goals in 3 games), with 2 goals scored after corners belonging to the defender Mykyta Burda.
 
It should be noted that Oleksandr Khatskevych's men scored goals in every UPL game in 2018, also extending their winning streak to 5 games (Zorya, Veres, Vorskla, Mariupol, Zorya). If we consider the way games, it's not easy for the team away from Kyiv: a goalless draw vs Oleksandriia in December, a defeat at the hands of Veres and a comeback win in Mariupol with two goals conceded.
 
Tamas Kadar and Mykola Shaparenko did not prepare for the game vs Shakhtar due to injuries.
 
Head-to-head record
 
The Shakhtar vs Dynamo stats in the Ukrainian League: 55 games, +19=15-21, 66-71.
 
The Donetsk team claimed 11 home wins, alongside 9 draws and 7 wins by the opponents. The goal difference is 36-28.
 
Previous league meeting 
 
On October 22, Shakhtar were 7 points ahead of the White-and-Blues, with the clash at the NSC Olympiyskyi ending in a 0-0 draw. The highly tense game did not abound with clear-cut chances, although the teams still managed to make some threatening attempts: Fred missed the target, Koval coped with Taison's attempt, and Pyatov didn’t let Moraes get his name on the scoresheet.