Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Shakhtar Donetsk could line up for Tuesday’s Champions League league phase clash with Arsenal.
Arsenal will likely come up against one of their reported transfer targets when they host Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Ukrainian side failed to score in either of their two opening games against Bologna and Atalanta BC, but the highly-rated Georgiy Sudakov – linked with Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool – has been on top form domestically.
The playmaker has scored seven goals and provided two assists in nine Ukrainian Premier League appearances this season, and he should operate as one of two advanced central midfielders in a 4-1-4-1 formation.
Head coach Marino Pusic is likely to make a change up front for Tuesday’s game, swapping out Eguinaldo for Danylo Sikan, who has scored three and set up one of Shakhtar’s last seven away goals in the Champions League.
Oleksandr Zubkov and Newerton should start on the flanks for the visitors, while Artem Bondarenko partners Sudakov just ahead of 35-year-old captain Taras Stepanenko.
Stepanenko picked up a knock in his side’s most recent Champions League game against Atalanta, but he was an unused substitute in Friday’s top-flight win over Kolos Kovalivka and will bring invaluable experience to the Shakhtar XI.
The backline of Yukhym Konoplya, Mykola Matvienko, Pedro Henrique and Valeriy Bondar kept a clean sheet in that game, so the quartet should form an unchanged defensive barrier in front of Dmytro Riznyk.
Shakhtar Donetsk possible starting lineup:
Riznyk; Konoplya, Bondar, Matvienko, Henrique; Stepanenko; Zubkov, Bondarenko, Sudakov, Newerton; Sikan
> Click here to see how Arsenal could line up for this match
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