Preview

May 19, Zaporizhia, Slavutych-Arena, 17:00
Live broadcast on 2+2 TV channel
 
Before the match
 
Shakhtar may well defend the league title even in the coming round – they need to defeat Zorya in order to get mathematically beyond reach of their competitors. To do so, the Miners are returning to the Slavutych-Arena in Zaporizhia, where they thrashed Inhulets 4-0 and won the Ukrainian Cup for the 13th time in their history on Wednesday.
 
After one day off, Paulo Fonseca’s men resumed training in Sviatoshyno on May 17. The players who had taken part in the cup final, spent 45 minutes on the field, played tennisball and left for a recovery session, while the rest got some additional workload in the form of a small-sided game. We want to point out that Shakhtar have no suspended players before the crucial league game.
 
Opponents
 
Zorya have been competing vs Mariupol for the 4th spot: after 28 rounds, the competitors scored the same number of points (39 each). In any case, due to the fact that Shakhtar have won the Cup, the fifth best team in the league also qualifies for the Europa League but winning a higher position will allow them to start in the third qualifying round.
 
In late April, Zarya defeated Lviv and Oleksandriia in the Premier League (with Pylyp Budkivskyi, Oleksandr Karavaev scoring one goal each, and with Artem Hromov scoring twice), then they lost to Mariupol in Zaporizhia (0-1). And in the previous round, Yurii Vernydub’s men achieved a draw at the end of the match vs Dynamo thanks to an excellent free-kick by Silas.
 
The defender Yevhen Cheberko will not play against Shakhtar due to earning four yellow cards.
 
Head-to-head record
 
In the Championship, the teams met on 39 occasions, with Shakhtar proving stronger 33 times, Zorya won 5 games, they also tied once. The goal difference is 99–24.
 
Previous league meeting
 
On April 13, the encounter at the OSK Metalist ended in a confident 3-0 victory by the Miners. They netted the opener in the 15th minute when Lytvyn brought Tete down in the penalty area and Kovalenko converted a spot-kick. Zorya could have levelled it after a free-kick - Pyatov parried away Budkovskyi's attempt. Early in the second half, Kayode finished off a great move involving Taison, Solomon, and Kovalenko, with Maycon sealing the win by getting on the ball just on time – 3-0.