U21. Zorya vs Shakhtar: match preview

Shakhtar U21 will hold their second away game in a row. A week earlier, the Donetsk team beat Volyn away 2-0 courtesy of a brace from Valerii Bondar. Following 20 rounds, the Orange-and-Blacks claimed 45 points (with the goal difference of 48-11), ranking second in the league’s table in six points behind the top team.

One of Shakhtar top players Giorgi Arabidze has recovered from the injury by the game versus Zorya. This season the Georgian midfielder has made 18 apps for the youth team and scored 10 goals to secure the team's top scorer award along with Mykyta Adamenko.

No players from either Donetsk nor Luhansk sides are forced to miss the action through serving a ban.

Referee of the match - Yekateryna Monzul (Kharkiv) 
Assistant referee - Maryna Streletska (Sumy), Oleksandra Ardasheva (Kyiv) 
Fourth official -  Maksym Kozyriatskyi (Zaporizhzhya)
Referee observer - Viktor Shvetsov (Odesa)

Zorya struggle to stay on top of the table and wrestle a spot among top six teams throughout the coming stage of the league. Currently, Luhansk side players occupy the fifth spot, having gained 28 points, with the goal difference of 25-27. Chornomorets, Dnipro and Vorskla are able to push them behind this position. It is the latter side that registered a slender 0-1 win over Volodymyr Mykytin’s guys in the previous clash in Poltava. This year, Zorya U21 have claimed neither points nor a single goal yet. One of the reasons for such a poor performance may be the absence of the Luhansk side’s top scorer Denys Bezborodko, who missed out the autumn part of the season, having 5 goals to his name.

As part of U21 premiership, Shakhtar and Zorya played 20 matches. The Pitmen have 11 victories under the belt, with 5 meetings ended in a draw and four games won by the Luhansk side. The goal difference is 41-21 in favour of the Orange-and-Blacks.

In the first leg held in Schaslyve on October 1, 2016, Valeriy Kryventsov’s boys emerged victorious. In the closing stages of the first half, Vyacheslav Tankovskyi put the Donetsk side in front before helping Roman Yalovenko claim the second goal towards the end of the time to seal the final score 2-0.

Shakhtar continue their unbeaten run having secured 7 wins out of 10 away clashes this season.

Zorya is the most uncompromising team of the league. Throughout 20 rounds, the Luhansk side were held to a draw only once.