Preview: Dynamo Kiev vs. Villarreal - prediction, team news

Villarreal continue their quest to win this season's Europa League with a last-16 tie against Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kiev.

The visitors head into Thursday's first leg having eased past Red Bull Salzburg, while Kiev got the better of Club Brugge at the last-32 stage.

Match preview

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Having breezed through to this stage of the competition, few teams would have wanted to be paired with Villarreal when the draw was made last month.

However, despite going eight matches without defeat on the European scene, Villarreal have failed to win during the same amount of games in La Liga.

The Yellow Submarine are now at risk of missing out on continental football for next season, heaping the pressure on Unai Emery ahead of this two-legged tie.

While Villarreal are fancied to progress past their next opponents, it has been 13 matches since they last scored more than two goals in a game.

Emery's side also need to recover from their late capitulation at Valencia on Saturday with two goals during the closing five minutes condemning them to a 2-1 defeat.

In sharp contrast to Villarreal, Kiev have been on an upward trajectory since returning from the winter break, going seven games without defeat in all competitions.

Their latest success, a 3-0 win over lowly Minai, maintained their four-point advantage over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian top flight.

Mircea Lucescu 's priority will be claiming the club's first league title in 2016, but he will be increasingly confident of an extended run in this competition after their 2-1 aggregate triumph over Club Brugge.

Vitaliy Buyalskyi netted both of Kiev's goals during that tie, taking his tally to the campaign to five in all competitions.

Dynamo Kiev Europa League form:

D

W

Dynamo Kiev form (all competitions):

D

D

W

W

D

W

Villarreal Europa League form:

W

D

W

W

W

W

Villarreal form (all competitions):

L

W

D

W

L

L

Team News

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Like in previous European matches, Emery is expected make several alterations to his Villarreal starting lineup.

Geronimo Rulli, Jaume Costa and Manu Trigueros are expected to be among the players who are drafted into the team.

Alberto Moreno, Francis Coquelin and Vicente Iborra all remain on the sidelines through injury.

Lucescu continues to be without a number of his key men due to injury, including Denys Popov and Viktor Tsygankov.

Volodymyr Shepelev and Gerson Rodrigues may return to the Kiev XI after featuring off the substitutes' bench in the last match.

Dynamo Kiev possible starting lineup:

Bushchan; Kedziora, Syrota, Zabarnyi, Mykolenko; Shaparenko, Sydorchuk, Shepelev, Rodrigues; Buyakskyi; Besedin

Villarreal possible starting lineup:

Rulli; Costa, Albiol, Torres, Estupinan; Trigueros, Parejo, Capoue, Pedraza; Alcacer, Moreno

We say: Dynamo Kiev 1-2 Villarreal

Despite their away win in the last round, Kiev know that they can ill-afford a setback on home territory this time around. However, that will only increase the pressure on the Ukrainian side, potentially allowing the visitors to take full advantage on Thursday night.

Top tip

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