Preview: Fenerbahce vs. Austria Vienna - prediction, team news, lineups

The Turkish side won 2-0 in Austria last week, so they will feel confident of reaching the group stage with home advantage on their side.

Match preview

Indeed, Jorge Jesus's side were hugely impressive in dispatching their opponents away from home last Thursday, with former Bournemouth striker Joshua King's eighth-minute strike giving them a superb foothold in the tie.

Austria Vienna struggled to retain the ball across the 90 minutes, with their possession figure of 37% surprisingly low given they were playing in front of their home fans at the Franz Horr Stadium.

They only had two shots on target, too, with their frustrations perhaps boiling over when defender Lucas Galvao picked up a second booking in the 83rd-minute. The Yellow Canaries made the most of their one-man advantage, with Serdar Dursun bagging a second for his side with only one minute of normal time remaining.

Jesus's side beat Adana Demirspor 4-2 on Monday to record their second successive league victory, so they should be full of belief heading into Thursday's second leg.

Austria Vienna, on the other hand, have given themselves a mountain to climb ahead of their trip to Istanbul.

The Sukru Saracoglu Stadium is rarely a pleasant experience for any set of opposition players, with 50,000 Turks set to be roaring their team on as they look to protect their two-goal lead and advance to the group stage of the Europa League for a second successive season.

The Violets have not advanced beyond the qualification rounds of European competition since the 2017-18 campaign, and their barren run looks set to continue unless they can pull off a monumental effort on Thursday.

Having beaten Wolfsberger 2-1 away from home on Sunday, Frank Hensel's side are clearly capable of performing well against decent sides on the road, though, so he will be reminding his players that an early goal can change everything.

Fenerbahce Europa League form:

Fenerbahce form (all competitions):

Austria Vienna Europa League form:

Austria Vienna form (all competitions):

Team News

King was not named in Fenerbahce's matchday squad for their win against Adana Demirspor on Monday night, with last week's goalscorer likely to be out of action for another week due to muscle fatigue.

Enner Valencia, who scored twice in Monday's 4-2 victory, is likely to replace him in attack, while Serdar Aziz and Nazim Sangare remain sidelined.

Irfan Kahveci will hope to receive some minutes from the bench having returned from injury in the past week.

Austria Vienna, meanwhile, will travel without Galvao after the defender's red card in the first leg earned himself a one-match suspension.

Johannes Handl came into the side for the weekend's win away to Wolfsberger, with the central defender likely to retain his place on Thursday.

Hensel has something of an injury crisis on his hands, with Ziad El Sheiwi, Matan Baltaxa, Florian Wustinger, Armand Smrcka and Marko Rugaz all unlikely to make the trip to Turkey.

Fenerbahce possible starting lineup:

Bayindir; Lemos, Szalai, Peres; Kadioglu, Yuksek, Crespo, Alioski; Rossi, Dursun, Valencia

Austria Vienna possible starting lineup:

Fruchtl; Ranftl, Handl, Muhl, Koumetio, Da Graca; Braunoda, Fischer, Holland; Gruber, Fitz

We say: Fenerbahce 2-0 Austria Vienna

Ultimately, it is difficult to see anything beyond a comfortable home win on Thursday.

Fenerbahce outplayed their opponents away from home last week, and we expect them to keep Austria Vienna at arms length once again to wrap up their progression to the group stage.

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