Young Boys will welcome Anderlecht to Switzerland on Thursday for the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League playoff tie.
The hosts progressed through two qualifying rounds to reach this stage, while their visitors entered a round later and saw off Paide, with a spot in the group stage now on the line.
Match preview
Young Boys entered Conference League qualification this year after a third-placed finish in the Swiss Super League last time around, as they also featured in the Champions League group stage.
The Bern outfit began their continental campaign with a 2-1 home victory over Manchester United but were unable to win another of their remaining five outings, dropping out of the group as a result, and they will now battle for a place in Europe's third competition for the new season.
Their qualifying campaign began in the second round with a comfortable 4-0 aggregate win over Liepaja, before Raphael Wicky's side saw off KuPS most recently, firstly winning 2-0 in the away leg before a Jean-Pierre Nsame brace and a Vincent Sierro goal fired them to a 3-0 victory on home turf.
After booking their place in the upcoming playoff, Young Boys returned to domestic action on Sunday, beating Servette 3-0 to remain at the summit of the Swiss top flight after five games with Fabian Rieder, Meschak Elia and Cedric Itten all getting on the scoresheet.
Wicky's men will now look to gain an advantage in the two-legged tie with a group-stage place on the line and take a lead in their home leg before travelling to Belgium next Thursday.
They welcome an Anderlecht side looking to go further in the Conference League than they did last year, having lost at this stage to Vitesse in qualifying for the inaugural competition.
They went on to finish third in the domestic top flight under Vincent Kompany, while losing on a penalty shootout to Genk after a goalless draw in the Belgian Cup final and entered qualifying for Europe's tertiary competition in the third round as a result.
Now under the management of Felice Mazzu, following Kompany's departure for Burnley over the summer, the Purple & White began their continental campaign with a contest against Estonian outfit Paide, and after a 2-0 away win thanks to goals from Lior Refaelov and Fabio Silva, they confirmed their progression with a 3-0 victory on home turf with Silva again on the scoresheet alongside a brace from Michael Murillo.
The Belgian giants now head into Thursday's trip on the back of four consecutive wins in all competitions, having followed up their second-leg triumph with a 3-0 league victory away at Sint-Truiden on Sunday, as Refaelov and Silva added to their tallies before Benito Raman added a third in the 74th minute to see Anderlecht move onto nine points from their opening four domestic games.
Now facing the tough test of a trip to Bern for the first leg of their playoff tie, Mazzu's men will hope to pick up a positive result ahead of their home leg to boost their hopes of reaching the group stage this season.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
Young Boys have plenty of competition for places in attack, and Jean-Pierre Nsame should continue to lead the line, having hit four goals and provided two assists in qualifying thus far.
He could again be joined by summer signing Cedric Itten, with Vincent Sierro likely operating behind the front two, although Wilfried Kanga and Meshchak Elia will also be pushing for starting spots.
Aurele Amenda replaced Mohamed Camara in defence for the second leg against KuPS, and they will again battle to partner captain Cedric Zesiger in the playoff.
Young forward Fabio Silva should operate in the Anderlecht front line from the outset on Thursday, after he came off the bench to score in their second leg against Paide, with the 20-year-old already boasting five goals and two assists in six appearances for the club since his arrival on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Lior Refaelov should also be handed a starting berth given his form in front of goal, while Michael Murillo is another threat going forward on the right flank.
Mazzu will stick with his preferred 3-5-2 system, with Wesley Hoedt, Hannes Delcroix and Zeno Debast set to line up in defence.
Young Boys possible starting lineup:
Racioppi; Chaiwa, Zesiger, Amenda, Lefort; Jankewitz, Niasse, Rrudhani; Sierro; Itten, Nsame
Anderlecht possible starting lineup:
Van Crombrugge; Delcroix, Hoedt, Debast; Murillo, Verschaeren, Arnstad, Trebel, Amuzu; Silva, Refaelov
We say: Young Boys 2-1 Anderlecht
In what should be a closely-fought encounter between two sides more than capable of hurting one another, we just see the Swiss outfit taking a narrow lead with home advantage, with everything likely to remain in the balance ahead of next week's second leg.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
