Preview

Before the match
 
Shakhtar enjoy an unbeaten run, having won 5 games out of 6 (16 points, goal difference 10-2) and being the prospective league leaders with a few meetings in reserve. Andres Carrasco's team had their most recent league game in late September - they defeated Volyn away (2-0). Back then, the Shakhtar top scorer Stanyslav Biblyk scored two goals, having 6 goals aggregately. But the previous round game vs Arsenal-Kyiv was postponed due to the international break - as many as 7 Miners at once benefited Ukraine national teams (U17 and U19) in the first qualifying round for Euro 2019.
 
Opponents
 
Mariupol scored 10 points in 9 games this season (goal difference 14-13), currently sitting in the 11th spot in the table, being just 2 points adrift of the top five sides. The lads of Oleksii Hetman display some interesting attacking football, having only once left the field without scoring any goals (0-0 draw vs Olimpik). In the recent games, Mariupol were tied with Karpaty (2-2), beating Volyn (3-2) and losing to Oleksandriia (1-2). The most prolific players are Vladyslav Bondar (4 goals) and Hlib Lytiuk (3).