Action continues in the Europa League this week, and on Thursday evening, PSV Eindhoven travel to Cyprus to take on Omonia Nicosia.
Roger Schmidt’s PSV side will be looking to bounce back from their defeat in the competition to Spanish side Granada last week, but they certainly appeared to be suffering from a European hangover of some sort this weekend.
They were defeated in the Eredivisie by Vitesse, breaking their undefeated domestic run in the process.
Omonia Nicosia, meanwhile, picked up a draw away against PAOK in their opening Europa League fixture, and have not lost a match since their Champions League qualifier defeat to Olympiacos in late September.
Omonia Nicosia vs PSV Eindhoven Head-to-Head
Omonia Nicosia have shown good form in recent months, as they’ve lost just one match in their past 13, being eliminated in the Champions League’s qualifying rounds by Olympiacos.
They currently sit in fourth place in the Cypriot First Division, but are one of only two unbeaten teams in the competition.
PSV, meanwhile, were flying in the Eredivisie until this weekend, winning four of their opening five fixtures, but their weekend loss to Vitesse has definitely damaged their momentum. They have now slipped to third place in the table, behind Ajax and Vitesse.
In terms of the Europa League, this one is probably a must-win for PSV after their loss to Granada last week. With Omonia and PAOK drawing their opening game, anything but three points here would probably mean PSV remain bottom of their group.
Omonia Nicosia form guide: D-W-W-D-D
PSV Eindhoven form guide: W-W-W-L-L
Omonia Nicosia vs PSV Eindhoven Team News
Omonia Nicosia are lucky enough to have a full-strength squad available for this game, and it seems likely that they could start the same team that drew with PAOK last week.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
PSV, however, have plenty of issues to deal with. No fewer than five players, including star full-back Denzel Dumfries, are unavailable for this game after testing positive for COVID-19. To add to this, Marco van Ginkel, Erick Gutierrez, Maximiliano Romero and Armando Obispo are all out with injuries.
Worse still, Mario Gotze is a doubt after missing PSV’s match with Vitesse after suffering a knock.
Injured: Marco van Ginkel, Erick Gutierrez, Maximiliano Romero, Armando Obispo
Doubtful: Mario Gotze
Suspended: None
Unavailable: Timo Baumgartl, Denzel Dumfries, Cody Gakpo, Pablo Rosario, Maxime Delanghe, Joel Piroe
Omonia Nicosia vs PSV Eindhoven Predicted XI
Omonia Nicosia predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Fabiano, Tomas Hubocan, Michael Luftner, Adam Lang, Jan Lecjaks, Vitor Gomes, Jordi Gomez, Eric Bautheac, Fotios Paopoulis, Marinos Tzionis, Michal Duris
PSV Eindhoven predicted XI (4-2-2-2): Yvon Mvogo, Mauro Junior, Jordan Teze, Olivier Boscagli, Philipp Max, Jorrit Hendrix, Ibrahim Sangare, Ryan Thomas, Mohamed Ihattaren, Donyell Malen, Eran Zahavi
Omonia Nicosia vs PSV Eindhoven Prediction
Usually, a game like this would appear tailor-made for a comfortable win for PSV, but right now that doesn’t seem likely. PSV have so many squad issues to deal with, and when you take their recent losses into account, they may well be about to hit a slump.
Omonia are clearly not as good a side on paper as their Dutch opponents, but they could look to spoil things for PSV and, given that the game is at home, they could definitely steal a point here.
Prediction: Omonia Nicosia 1-1 PSV Eindhoven