Preview: Go Ahead Eagles vs. Braga - prediction, team news, lineups

Needing a victory to achieve different Europa League objectives, Go Ahead Eagles host Braga at De Adelaarshorst on Thursday as the league phase concludes.

The hosts need maximum points to have any chance of finishing in the top 24, while their Portuguese opponents could seal a top-eight spot with a point.

Match preview

Despite Go Ahead Eagles’ admirable start in their Europa League debut, Melvin Boel’s side have not built on those strong results.

The Deventer-based club responded to a home defeat against FCSB by claiming consecutive 2-1 victories on matchdays two and three, including a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at De Adelaarshorst, placing them 12th in the 36-team table.

However, a significant dip in results since has seen Boel’s troops slide from a playoff place to 30th in the standings, outside the lifeline-giving positions.

Their slide is a result of four consecutive defeats from matchdays four to seven, with the Dutch debutants’ leaky rearguard not helping their cause in the competition.

Go Ahead Eagles have conceded at least two goals in those fixtures, letting in two in defeats by RB Salzburg (2-0) and Lyon (2-1), three in their 3-1 loss to Nice and four in their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Stuttgart.

The goals conceded magnify the team’s broader defensive bugbear and an inability to keep clean sheets, highlighted by a 15-game sequence without a shutout, which threatens to undermine their playoff prospects.

With two points separating the 30th-placed Dutch side from Celtic in 24th, a victory is imperative to avoid a disappointing exit from Europe altogether.

That outcome is feared given the form of their visitors, who have claimed five wins from seven matchdays, only losing a wildly exciting seven-goal thriller in the fourth round against Genk.

Seven points from a possible nine since that defeat have catapulted Carlos Vicens’s team to fifth in the league table on 16 points, currently guaranteeing them a place in the last 16.

While they could mathematically still end atop the table after the eighth matchday, there remains a threat of sliding outside the coveted top-eight positions, with ninth-placed Porto two points adrift.

Beyond their Portuguese rivals, however, only a heavy defeat in Deventer and healthy victories for Genk and Crvena Zvezda will see Vicens’s team end outside the top eight due to their +6 goal difference.

With Genk (+3) and Crvena Zvezda (+1) carrying inferior goal differences into the concluding matchday, a draw realistically ought to suffice for Os Arcebispos, even if a win would be a more satisfying outcome.

Go Ahead Eagles Europa League form:

Go Ahead Eagles form (all competitions):

Braga Europa League form:

Braga form (all competitions):

Team News

Gerrit Nauber is missing with a broken leg, while Pim Saathof (knee), Soren Tengstedt and Robbin Weijenberg (knee) are also sidelined.

Though Milan Smit had scored three times in the Europa League for the Dutch side, the forward has departed for Stoke City for the remainder of the season, leaving Kowet to rely on Jakob Breum, Mathis Suray and Victor Edvardsen against the Primeira Liga outfit.

The same applies to recently departed right-back Mats Deijl, who joined Feyenoord last week, leaving Boel without a player who made nearly 30 appearances for Kowet this season.

Gabriel Martinez is suspended for the Portuguese side, while Amine El Ouazzani is likely absent with a foot problem.

Fran Navarro leads the way for goals on the Braga squad, and the forward aims to add to his three strikes against the Deventer-based hosts.

No player in the competition has assisted more than Ricardo Horta's three, highlighting the attacking midfielder's creative threat.

Go Ahead Eagles possible starting lineup:

De Busser; Adelgaard, Meulensteen, Kramer, James; Linthorst, Twigt; Sivertsen, Breum, Suray; Edvardsen

Braga possible starting lineup:

Hornicek; Lagerbielke, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi; Gomez, Moutinho, Gorby, Lelo; Horta, Rodrigues; Navarro