Shakhtar v Sheriff: Goals will flow with pressure turned off

Shakhtar 1.584/7 v Sheriff Tiraspol 6.411/2; The Draw 4.57/2
Tuesday 7 December, 20:00
Live on BT Sport Extra

Shakhtar fail to meet expectations

Sheriff’s European adventure is set to continue in the Europa League, with no salvation in sight for Shakhtar.

After five games, Shakhtar are resigned to finishing bottom of Group D, having claimed just one point (W0 D1 L4). At a time when Shakhtar are top of the Ukrainian Premier League, after a 6-1 win over Lviv at the weekend, their European performances have been very disappointing.

It was always going to be hard to make the last-16 of the Champions League, from a group that contained Real Madrid and Inter, but Shakhtar were expected to at least qualify for the Europa League. Instead, it is Sheriff that have claimed third position.

Sheriff won the reverse fixture 2-0 and then pulled off a shock 2-1 victory at Real Madrid. They have lost all three of their games since then, but remain in Europe nonetheless, having already done the hard work. At the weekend they drew 0-0 at the Moldovan top flight leaders Petrocub, who Sheriff trail by one point with three games in hand.

Back goals with pressure off

Shakhtar are the 1.584/7 favourites, with the draw at 4.57/2 and Sheriff at 6.411/2.

With no real motivation for either side, other than pride in Shakhtar’s case, it seems a risk betting on the result in this one. There is room for experimentation in both line-ups and along with the fact that there is no pressure on either side, that could lead to an open game with plenty of goals.

After beating Shakhtar 2-0, Sheriff’s last four games in the Champions League have all seen at least three goals. Over 2.5 goals can be backed at 1.768/11.