Vorskla vs Shakhtar: match preview

October 23, Poltava, A. Butovskyi Vorskla Stadium, 17:00

Match build-up

Shakhtar are still three points adrift of Dynamo. The Miners are second in the table after 8 wins, 2 draws and a defeat. Both Premier League leaders have scored 29 goals in 11 matches. Roberto De Zerbi's team showed the maximum performance just in the recent round by thrashing Zorya 6-1 in Kyiv (doubles by Fernando and Tete, plus goals by Pedrinho and Sikan).
 
On Friday morning, the matchday’s eve, Shakhtar held a theory session and an hour-long training session in Sviatoshyno, arriving in Poltava by bus the same evening. 21 footballers are preparing for the match against Vorskla.

Opponents

Vorskla finished last season in the 5th position. Presently, Yurii Maksymov's team sit in the third spot with 24 points – two points less than Shakhtar have and two points more than Dnipro-1. This season, the Poltava team lost only once – to Zorya in late August. Then followed a draw against Desna, and on September 19 they started a winning streak which includes four matches by this round (vs Minaj, Kolos, Inhulets, Oleksandriia).

After the international break, Vorskla beat Oleksandriia 2-1 away. In the first half, Brazilian Rangel netted two goals – he previously played for Finland’s KuPS, joining the Poltava team before the transfer window closure. One of the key players in the opposing squad, just like in the previous season, is the Luxembourgish footballer Olivier Thill – he and Ruslan Stepanyuk scored five goals each in the league.

Head-to-head record

Shakhtar won the league title 39 times, Vorskla did it three times, with another 10 games ending in a draw. The goal difference is 106-30.

Previous league meeting

On April 4, the Miners won 2-0 in Poltava. Junior Moraes scored a goal in each half on his birthday, with Alan Patrick providing two assists.