Preview

September 15, Oleksandriia, Nika, 14:00
Live broadcast on the Futbol 2 TV channel

Before the match

Shakhtar are topping the league table before visiting one of their closest pursuers. The Orange-and-Blacks are 2 points ahead of Oleksandriia.
 
Paulo Fonseca’s team enjoyed a great run of form before the two-week break, securing 4 straight wins (vs Vorskla, Lviv, Olimpik, and Mariupol). We want to point out that 11 players recently returned from the international duty. There are no suspended players before round 8.
 
Opponents
 
Oleksandriia got off to a confident start in the league, currently sitting in the 2nd spot. Only in one round, Volodymyr Sharan’s men failed to earn any points: 5 wins, 1 draw, and 1 defeat.
 
It is noteworthy that in every successful game, the Oleksandriians kept clean sheets: vs Karpaty (2-0), vs Zorya (1-0), vs Desna (2-0), vs Arsenal-Kyiv (1-0), vs Vorskla (2-0). In the 7th round, they showed character, conceding two goals by Lviv before the break, but managing to reduce the outcome to a draw (goals scored by Vasyl Hrytsuk and Artem Sitalo).
 
Oleksandriia filled the break with a friendly game vs Vorskla. On September 8, the test match in Poltava ended 5-4 in favour of the hosts.
 
Head-to-head record
 
The teams held 14 meetings in the UPL. 12 wins belong to Shakhtar, 1 belongs to Oleksandriia, plus 1 draw. The aggregate goal difference is 29-11.
 
In Oleksandriia, the Miners have been unbeaten: +6=1-0 at the goal difference of 14-8.
 
Previous league game
 
On November 17, 2017, Oleksandriians sensationally won in Kharkiv. All goals were scored in the first half. In the 15th minute, Polyarus brought his side in front, with Bernard quickly equalising, but in the 27th minute Polyarus grabbed a brace through Hrytsak's assist to make it 1-2.