Rock bottom of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) table, Lech Poznań look to avoid another European embarrassment against a Sunderland side hoping for a distraction from their domestic woes.
Match News and Current Form
Lech Poznań have conceded eight unanswered goals in a pair of 4-0 UEL defeats to Crystal Palace and Bayer Leverkusen so far this season. The Railwaymen risk becoming the first side in competition history to ever lose their opening three matches of a campaign by 4+ goals, but should have recovered some morale with an emphatic 6-1 weekend win which kept them on the title pace domestically. Translating that form onto the continental stage is a long-standing issue for a Lech side who’ve lost five successive UEL proper games, failing to score in the last four, while they’ve also been beaten in five of their last six main draw fixtures in this competition at home (W1).
Sunderland are one of ten teams to win both of their opening two UEL games this term after they came from behind to beat Torreense last week, but they’ve been brought crashing back down to earth since. The Black Cats were completely outplayed in a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday, with their fourth successive Premier League loss leaving them in the relegation zone and prompting defender Nordi Mukiele to blast his teammates for becoming “arrogant”. Régis Le Bris’ men desperately need a response on the road, where their only such win of the campaign came in Portugal last week (D1, L3).
Head-to-Head History
These sides have never previously met. Lech’s only win in five major European games against English teams (L4) came back in 2010, beating Manchester City 3-1 in this competition.
Hot Stats and Streaks
Six of Lech’s last seven competitive home games featured over 2.5 goals.
Six of the eight goals Lech have conceded in the UEL this term came before half-time.
Sunderland faced the fewest shots on target (3) of any side across the first two UEL matchdays.
Four of Sunderland’s last five competitive matches produced over 10.5 corners.
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
Pablo Rodríguez must fancy his chances of breaking Lech’s UEL duck this season having directly contributed to five goals in their domestic win on Sunday (G2, A3), with his last nine scoring appearances for the club ending in victory. Malick Fofana is yet to hit his stride at Sunderland and has hit a wall in this competition - after directly contributing to seven goals in his first eight UEL appearances (G6, A1), the Belgian has blanked in his last eight.
Wojciech Mońka missed Lech’s weekend game after coming off injured on matchday two, while Sunderland have been without Wilson Isidor and Thomas Meunier for their last two matches.
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Betting Analysis
With both having endured defensive disasters lately, a cagey affair could ensue here which brings under 2.5 goals into play.
Author: Ryan Fisher