Preview: Charleroi vs Leuven - prediction, team news, lineups

Charleroi are set to host Leuven at the Stade du Pays de Charleroi on Tuesday in the penultimate fixture of the Belgian Pro League.

The hosts can still qualify for the Europa League next season if they win their final two games, while the visitors have nothing but pride to play for in this fixture.

Match preview

Charleroi come into this with a chance to reach the Europa League next season, as they sit four points behind Genk and Standard Liege.

The hosts lost last time out when they suffered a 1-0 loss to Westerlo, which has seriously dented their chances of playing European football next season.

Prior to this loss they had won three on the bounce to put them in this position, but now they cannot afford a slip-up in their final two fixtures, starting with this game.

Charleroi won the last meeting between the teams, coming out on top 2-0 at King Power at Den Dreef Stadion in April.

© Iconsport

Leuven come into this game sitting bottom of the group with nothing to play for in their final two league games.

The visitors won last time out when they beat Antwerp 3-0 at home, but up until that fixture it had been a disastrous few weeks for the team.

Prior to that game, they had not won since the final day of the regular season on March 22, going seven games without a win.

Leuven are looking to reverse a four-match away winless streak; the last time they won a game on the road was March 14 against Charleroi.

Charleroi Belgian Pro League form:

Leuven Belgian Pro League form:

Team News

© Imago

Charleroi will be without the services of Massamba Sow and Theo Defourny, as the pair are ruled out through injury.

Parfait Guiagon will be key to them if they are to secure victory in this match, as he is the club’s top scorer with nine goals, and they will hope he can add to this tally.

Leuven will not be able to call upon Noe Dussenne, who is unavailable due to the injury he suffered earlier in the campaign.

Attackers Abduol Traore and Henok Teklab were on the scoresheet last time out, and there will be hope from the visitors that they can repeat this to earn a second victory on the bounce in the league.

Charleroi possible starting lineup:

Kone; Blum, Ousou, Keita, Nzita; Bemier, Camara, Guigon, Titraoui, Van Den Kerkhof; Scheilder

Leuven possible starting lineup:

Leysen; Ominami, Pletinckx, Akimoto; Teklab, Verstraete, Schrijvers, Opoku; Maziz, Traore, Vaesen

We say: Charleroi 2-0 Leuven

The hosts are in desperate need to keep their faint European ambitions alive, and so they will be battling right until the end to ensure this, while their opponents have little to play for but pride and have struggled for any real form. Charleroi should get all three points in this fixture.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.