Preview: Slavia Prague vs. Dnipro-1

Preview: Slavia Prague vs. Dnipro-1

Slavia Prague will aim to maintain their 100% record in 2023-24 when Dnipro-1 visit Fortuna Arena in the third round of Europa League qualifying on Thursday.

The Czech side have won each of their opening three league matches this season, while the Ukrainian outfit kicked off their domestic campaign with a victory last weekend.

It is safe to say that Slavia Prague could not have wished for a better start to the new season, as the Red and Whites find themselves joint-top of the Czech Liga after securing three consecutive wins.

Following a 2-0 victory over Hradec Kralove on the opening weekend, Jindrich Trpisovsky’s men claimed a 3-1 win against Ceske Budejovice before notching a 2-1 victory over Zlin last time out, with Dutch striker Mick van Buren scoring his second goal of the campaign.

It is also worth noting that Slavia Prague enjoyed an unbeaten pre-season, securing successive wins against Rakow, Maccabi Haifa, Podbrezova and Queens Park Rangers before drawing with Dynamo Dresden.

Thanks to a strong end to the previous campaign, the Slavists have suffered a solitary defeat in their last 23 matches across all competitions, including friendlies, so Trpisovsky’s men will be confident of reaching the Europa League proper.

Preview: Slavia Prague vs. Dnipro-1 – prediction, team news, lineups

Dnipro-1, meanwhile, claimed a 2-1 victory over Polissya Zhytomyr in their opening game of the 2023-24 Ukrainian Premier League season, with Ruslan Babenko’s 91st-minute winner cancelling out Denis Yanakov’s 87th-minute equaliser.

After finishing second in the Ukrainian Premier League last term ā€“ five points behind perennial champions Shakhtar Donetsk ā€“ Dnipro-1 started the new season in the second qualifying round for the Champions League.

However, Oleksandr Kucher’s side ended up suffering a 5-3 aggregate defeat to Greek club Panathinaikos, losing 3-1 at home before drawing 2-2 in Athens to drop into Europa League qualification.

Having reached the knockout phase of last season’s Europa Conference League ā€“ taking 10 points from a possible 18 before falling to AEK Larnaca in the playoffs, Dnipro-1 will be eager to make their mark on the European stage once again.

Slavia Prague form (all competitions):
WWW

Dnipro-1 form (all competitions):
LDW

We say: Slavia Prague 2-0 Dnipro-1
Having started the new season in eye-catching form, Slavia Prague look set to gain a healthy first-leg lead over Dnipro-1, who will likely struggle to deal with the Reds and Whites’ attacking approach on home soil.

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