Austria Vienna welcome Polish champions Lech Poznan to the Generali Arena on Thursday evening in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Despite taking just one point from their opening four matches, the Violets still have a good chance of progressing to the knockout stage.
Match preview
Austria Vienna have just arguably faced their three toughest home matches of the season all in succession, facing Red Bull Salzburg, Villarreal and Sturm Graz, and disappointingly but unsurprisingly, they lost all of them.
A 4-1 defeat to Lech in the reverse fixture was the starting point for a worrying run of form in which they have won just two of their last nine games, losing six, conceding 22 goals.
Their 0-0 draw with Hapoel Be'er Sheva on matchday one remains their only point in the group so far, as the three defeats that followed have included some heavy ones, with their goal difference now on minus nine.
That makes it all the more remarkable that they are still in contention to qualify, but a win here is a must as they aim to close the four point gap between themselves and Lech.
That looks a difficult task when you look at Lech's recent away record, as the Poles have lost only three of their last 20 games on the road, but all three came in Europe against Villarreal, Vikingur and Qarabag.
With Villarreal a long way clear and already through as group winners, Lech are in the driving seat to join them in the knockout stages, but this European campaign has seemingly dented their domestic form so far this season.
The reigning champions are down in seventh, 10 points off leaders Rakow Czestochowa, who do not have the same distractions as Lech given they were beaten in UECL qualifying in August.
A heavy reliance on Swedish striker Mikael Ishak has amplified their struggles too, because after the entire team scored so freely last season, the same cannot be said now.
Ishak has been involved in 12 of their 22 goals domestically and in their group so far, and while losing Jakub Kaminski to Wolfsburg was always going to be a big loss, the form of Joao Amaral has fallen off a cliff this season, so much so that the 14-goal man from last season has rarely started this campaign.
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Team News
Nikola Dovedan started his first game for Austria Vienna at the weekend against LASK Linz, but he is not registered in their UECL squad so will take no part in this tie or their final group fixture in Israel.
That is unhelpful for manager Manfred Schmid, as Austria Vienna have numerous injury concerns currently.
Teenage duo Ziad El Sheiwi and Florian Wustinger will both be out until 2023 as they recover from respective ACL injuries, and Austria Under-21 international Muharem Huskovic will not play again until after the World Cup as he deals with a knee injury of his own.
In better news though, Lukas Muhl, who came off injured in their last win away to Rapid Vienna, could return here in defence, while Marko Raguz is back in training as he aims to make his debut for the club, following his signing from LASK, before the World Cup break.
Ex-Leeds United man Barry Douglas will miss out for Lech, as the Scotsman has not featured since picking up a first-half injury against Hapoel Be'er Sheva, so Pedro Rebocho will continue to deputise at left-back.
An adductor issue has kept Bartosz Salamon out for much of the year, but that has given Alan Czerwinski an opportunity to nail down a starting spot in the side this season.
Austria Vienna possible starting lineup:
Fruchtl; Ranftl, Lucas Galvao, Meisl, Martins; Braunoder, Fischer, Teigl, Fitz, Polster; Gruber
Lech Poznan possible starting lineup:
Bednarek; Pereira, Czerwinski, Milic, Rebocho; Velde, Murawski, Karlstrom, Skoras; Szymczak, Ishak
We say: Austria Vienna 1-1 Lech Poznan
Neither outfit have had great joy in front of goal of late, and the reverse fixture was the only time Austria Vienna have scored in the group, but they still lost heavily.
Lech will likely settle for a point here and hope Villarreal do them a favour against Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the other game in Group C.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
