Europa League Preview: Kuban Krasnodar v Swansea City; Rubin Kazan v Wigan Athletic
Swansea City visits Kuban Stadium in Russia to face Kuban Krasnodar, while Rubin Kazan will host Championship side Wigan Athletic on matchday 4 of the UEFA Europa League.
Kuban Krasnodar v Swansea City
The two met on matchday 3 wherein Kuban was able to settle for a draw courtesy of a penalty in extra-time converted by former Premier League stalwart Djibril Cisse, after Swansea attacker Michu opened up the scoring at the 68th minute mark.
The Welsh side are determined to secure a win, for purposes of providing cushion and controlling their fate in advancing to the next round.
"We have three matches left to play, we all know what happened in the first game against Kuban at home and we want to do better on Thursday," Swans boss Michael Laudrup told swanseacity.net.
Suffering from an overall inconsistent form, Swansea is coming off a derby defeat in the hands of Cardiff City and will be looking to get back on track.
"In the last few games we haven't been sharp enough offensively. We aren't giving away too much defensively, but we have to improve in the last third of the pitch," he added.
Kuban, on the other hand, has adjusted well to the system of newly appointed manager Viktor Goncharenko, after Dorinel Munteanu was sacked because of failing to rack up wins for the Premier-Liga side.
The Russian side lost only 1 of their 4 games under Goncharenko's watch, who is the youngest manager, then aged 31, to lead a club into the group stages of the Champions League in his stint with BATE Borisov in 2008.
Probable Starters:
Kuban Krasnodar (4-4-1-1): Belenov; Kozlov, Xandao, Dealbert, Melgarejo; Khubulov, Fidler, Tlisov, Bucur; Popov; Cisse
Out: Rabiu, Armas, Karuykin
Swansea City: Vorm; Rangel, Chico, Amat, Taylor; De Guzman, Britton; Routledge, N/A, Dyer; Bony
Out: Pablo Hernandez (thigh), Garry Monk (knee), Jonjo Shelvey (family reasons)
Rubin Kazan v Wigan Athletic
Wigan may take the top spot, should they win against Rubin Kazan.
The Latics' strength in defence are on display in the Europa League as they have only conceded 2 goals in 3 matches.
They are coming off a 2-1 win against Huddersfield in Championship.
Rubin Kazan are coming off a draw in the Russian Premier League, after suffering back-to-back defeats and will be looking to bounce back on Thursday.
Racist chants are part of the concern heading into the match as Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure was subjected to such during their match against CSKA in Moscow.
Wigan boss Owen Coyle, however, brushed-off such issue, indicating that there was harmony in the stands during their home game against Rubin.
"In the home game against Rubin, there was a fantastic atmosphere," Coyle told bbc.co.uk.
"The Rubin fans came and were very vocal, got behind their team and supported them very well."
Schedule and Free Live Online Streaming (Link/s will be provided an hour before Kick-off):
November 8, 2013 - 3 am (AEST)
Kuban Krasnodar v Swansea City: LINK1 LINK2 LINK3
Rubin Kazan v Wigan Athletic: LINK1 LINK2 LINK3
Disclaimer: The inclusion of any link/s shall be purely for informational purposes, gathered from sources made available on the Internet; such act shall not be meant to aid or abet, impliedly or otherwise, the act/s of Web site/s cited.