Union Berlin will be hoping to make up ground on the top two in Group D of the Europa League when they host Malmo on Thursday.

The visitors, meanwhile, are yet to gain a single point in this season's competition and will be eliminated from Europe altogether if they fall to defeat.

Match preview

After falling to defeat against Union Saint-Gilloise and Braga in their opening two matches, Union Berlin's chances of reaching the Europa League knockout stages looked to be pretty slim.

Urs Fischer's side are one who often rely on fine margins in order to gain positive results, as is evident by the fact that each of their last eight matches have seen fewer than three goals scored at either end, with only one team scoring in the last seven of those.

Their first two matches went against them in the form of successive 1-0 defeats in very tight matches overall, but last week they showed that they can overcome adversity by beating Malmo despite falling down to 10-men on the stroke of half time.

Indeed, Hungary midfielder Andras Schafer was given his marching orders after a poor tackle, but the in-form Sheraldo Becker managed to provide his team with a vital victory by scoring the decisive goal of the game in the 68th minute.

With Fischer's side flying high at the top of the Bundesliga after nine matches, they will head into their home match against the Swedish champions full of confidence of gaining another win on Thursday, although they may need to inflict revenge on both Braga and Union Saint-Gilloise thereafter if they are to reach the knockout stages.

After qualifying for the Champions League group stage last season, Malmo may have had hopes of making an impact in the Europa League this season.

However, they have lost each of their three matches so far, with their 3-2 defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise particularly galling given that they led twice during the encounter in Belgium.

Likewise, head coach Age Hareide was left bereft by his side failing to take advantage of having a numerical advantage in terms of bodies on the pitch for the entire second half against the Bundesliga leaders last week, with the Blue Ones failing to convert 72% possession into any meaningful threat.

Indeed, their goalkeeper Ismael Diawara was still forced into making six saves as well as pulling Becker's strike out of the net, illustrating the paucity of the quality of their overall performance.

Given that they are lagging nine points off the top in sixth place in the Swedish Allsvenskan table, their struggles at a higher level should perhaps not come as much of a surprise, and they are clearly up against it in terms of claiming a positive result against their in-form opponents in Berlin on Thursday.

Team News

Union Berlin will be without Schafer and Sven Michel due to suspension, while Timo Baumgartl, Kevin Mohwald and Tim Maciejewski are all injury doubts.

Janik Haberer and Morten Thorsby could come into Fischer's midfield, while club captain Christopher Trimmel is expected to come into the back line in order to provide some valuable experience.

Malmo, meanwhile, will travel without Niklas Moisander, Mahame Siby and Adi Nalic due to injury.

Sergio Pena could come into the visitors' midfield in order to provide more composure and technical ability in that area of the pitch, while 36-year-old Ola Toivonen will be hoping to receive a start.

Union Berlin possible starting lineup:
Ronnow; Doekhi, Knoche, Leite; Trimmel, Haberer, Khedira, Thorsby, Griesselmann; Siebatcheu, Becker

Malmo possible starting lineup:
Diawara; Beijmo, Hadzikadunic, Lewicki; Ceesay, Pena, Rakip, Larsson, Olsson; Christiansen, Thelin

We say: Union Berlin 2-0 Malmo

We expect Union Berlin to gain a fairly comfortable victory on Thursday, with yet another clean sheet for Fischer's side likely given their defensive organisation.

Malmo have failed to impose themselves in Europe this season and appear to be heading limply out of European competition altogether.

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