We are reaching the crucial stages of 2020 European Championship qualification and things are looking tight at the top of Group B. This group contains Ukraine, Portugal, Serbia, Luxembourg and Lithuania.
Not a great deal was expected of Luxembourg and Lithuania and so it has turned out but Serbia will be disappointed to have been cut off in third place. That leaves Ukraine top of the table on 16 points and Portugal in second on 11 points.
These teams meet at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kiev on the 14th October knowing a win for the hosts would see them through. If Portugal can win and Serbia fail to win their game, the Portuguese will qualify along with Ukraine.
Ukraine come into this match having defeated Lithuania 2-0 at home on Friday night. They opened the scoring after 29 minutes and doubled their advantage in the second half to seal the victory in a match they were expected to win.
The hosts have won five and drawn one of their six games in 2020 European Championship qualifying Group B. They started the campaign with a good 0-0 draw in Portugal and have since picked up five straight wins. Ukraine have defeated Luxembourg and Lithuania away plus Serbia, Luxembourg and Lithuania at home.
Trends show Ukraine have lost only one of their last eighteen matches including friendly internationals. They are undefeated in their last seven at home and have kept five clean sheets in their last six on home soil.
Portugal have work to do if they are to catch Ukraine at the top and prevent Serbia from catching them in second place. The Portuguese have won three and drawn two of their five matches in the group. They started with the 0-0 draw at home to Ukraine and were then held 1-1 at home by Serbia.
Portugal then picked up three straight wins away to Serbia and Lithuania and at home against Luxembourg.
Trends show Portugal are undefeated in their last thirteen matches and have won eight of those games, including each of the last five. They have won four and drawn one of their last five away matches, scoring three or more goals in each of the four victories and seeing both teams score in the same four games.
Team news and Ukraine will be looking towards Ruslan Malinovskyi and Viktor Tsyhankov for their goals in this match. They can also call upon the threat of Yevhen Konoplyanka and Andriy Yarmolenko out wide.
Portugal will start with Cristiano Ronaldo up-front but they have some excellent creative players in attacking midfield including Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Joao Felix.
This could be a very exciting game but it depends how the teams want to play.
Forebet predicts win for Portugal in a low scoring derby.