The UEFA Europa League continues this week and the 3rd round of matches will all be played on Thursday night. There are several games to look forward to including the one at the Philips Stadion as PSV Eindhoven take on LASK Linz.
As things stand in Group D, PSV Eindhoven are top on 6 points having won both their games in the Europa League this season. LASK Linz are in 3rd place with 3 points from their 2 matches and still have a good chance of qualifying for the knockout stages if they can take something from this game.
PSV Eindhoven started their campaign with a home match against Sporting Lisbon and raced into a 2-0 lead in the first half. Sporting Lisbon got a goal back in the 38th minute but PSV Eindhoven grabbed a third just after half time and went on to win the match 3-2. In their second match of the group, PSV Eindhoven travelled to Norway to play Rosenborg.
Again, PSV Eindhoven made a fast start to the match and were 3-0 up before half time. Rosenborg got a goal back in the 70th minute but PSV Eindhoven scored again so the match ended 4-1 in favour of the Dutch club.
Trends show PSV Eindhoven are undefeated in the Europa League this season having won 5 and drawn one of their 6 matches in the competition. They have won 2 and drawn one of their 3 home games, scoring 6 goals in the process.
LASK Linz travel to the Netherlands on the back of a 2-1 defeat at Sporting Lisbon last time out. It was always going to be a tough match for the Austrian team but they took the lead after just 16 minutes. However, they could not hold on and LASK Linz conceded 2 goals in the space of 5 minutes in the second half to lose the game.
Nonetheless, LASK Linz did take maximum points from their first Europa League group game as they defeated Rosenborg 1-0 at home. This was seen as a must win game for LASK Linz and they did not disappoint as a late goal in the first half was enough to seal the points.
LASK Linz came close to qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League this season but fell at the final hurdle in the play offs. They will be hoping to reach the knockout stages of the Europa League and a point from this game would be a good result.
Team news and PSV Eindhoven have only two players who could be unavailable for this game with Sam Lammers and Yannick Van Osch both suffering from knee injuries.
LASK Linz have 5 players on the treatment table and Christian Ramsebner, Dominik Reiter, Emanuel Pogatetz, Inpyo Oh and Markus Wostry all face a race to be fit for the match.
Considering the way they have started this group, PSV Eindhoven must be the favourites to win this game. LASK Linz have shown enough to suggest they could score a goal but the home side should come out on top.