Preview

October 4, Chernihiv, Yurii Gagarin stadium, 17:00

Match build-up

Last Sunday, Shakhtar claimed the 1,500th victory in their history. Having defeated Olimpik, Luis Castro's team climbed up a few spots in the table, currently sitting in the 3rd spot. Dynamo and Vorskla are above them, while Desna and the Miners have the same number of points (8 each).

The postponement of the game vs Rukh caused a situation with three games in 8 days, nevertheless there is nothing extraordinary about it for professional footballers. Most of the clubs have had the same kind of scheduleas they had European qualifiers or, for example, the League Cup games along the league ones. With this kind of schedule, the days between games are mostly spent on recovery. Shakhtar already had a full week to prepare for Desna, during which the coaching staff managed not only to have practice with the team on the pitch, but also to involve some young players:Heorhii Sudakov, Bohdan Viunnyk and Dmytro Kapinus.

Sergii Kryvtsov did not train in the general group due to injury. If he cannot play vs Desna, then the return of Valerii Bondarafter serving a suspension will be useful. Taras Stepanenkowho did not take part in the match against Olimpik, is also back now.

Opponents

Desna have enjoyed their best season in history, finishing 4th in the Premier League and having tried their hand at qualifying for the Europa League. There,the Chernihiv team met with the recent opponents of Shakhtar - the German Wolfsburg (they lost 0-2away). In the Championship, the team of Oleksandr Ryabokon did not suffer any defeats. Their league campaign began with defeating Zorya (3-1; Filippov, Tamm, Budkovskyi), then they tied with Dynamo (0-0) and Inhulets (1-1; Hytchenko) and beat Ruk (3-1; Totovytskyi, Dehtyarev, Budkovskyi).

The best scorer of Desna Oleksandr Filippov moved to the Belgian Saint-Truiden. Orest Kuzyk who used to play on loan in Chernihiv, continued his career in Cyprus. The former captain Denys Favorov now plays for Zorya. Instead, Maksym Dehtyarev moved to Desna. Pavlo Polehenko and Shakhtar’s Mykhailo Mudrik also joined the team.

Head-to-head record

Shakhtar proved stronger than Desna in all 6 Ukrainian league games, scoring 12 goals and conceding4 goals. In the first 4 matches, the Miners kept a clean sheet, with the recent 2 being much more productive - 3-2 and 4-2.

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