Union Saint-Gilloise host Liverpool at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in their concluding Group E match of 2023-24 UEFA Europa League.
Victory would see Union Saint-Gilloise finish second if Toulouse lose to LASK, whilst Liverpool are through to the Round of 16 as Group E winners regardless of their result here.
Team News
Union Saint-Gilloise have no fresh injury concerns but Charles Vanhoutte is suspended for this match, having picked up three bookings in the group stage.
Liverpool could welcome Alexis Mac Allister back into contention after he missed their Premier League win at Crystal Palace with a knee injury.
Diogo Jota (muscle), Joel Matip (ACL), Andrew Robertson (shoulder), Stefan Bajcetic (calf) and Thiago Alcantara (hip) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Union SG host Liverpool at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in a 6:45pm CET (5:45pm UK Time) kick-off on Thursday 14 December, live on TNT Sports 2 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Union Saint-Gilloise lost their only previous meeting against Liverpool in a 2-0 away result in October 2023.
- Liverpool are visiting Union SG for the first time in all UEFA competitions.
- One of Union Saint-Gilloise three goals at home were scored from the penalty spot, which came in a 2-1 home win over LASK.
- All five of Liverpool’s away goals in this group were scored after half-time.
Prediction
Needing a win to stand any chance of advancing to the knockout play-offs, Union Saint-Gilloise know that the pressure will be on them to deliver a strong performance but they will need to show more fight in attack than they did at Anfield.
Liverpool meanwhile are already through as group winners so it will be interesting to see how Jurgen Klopp approaches this with one eye on Sunday’s league clash against Manchester United, but I nevertheless do expect him to rest some players here.
The fact that this is an away fixture though might worry him slightly given that his Reds haven’t exactly been impressive performance wise on the road at times this season, especially given how wasteful they were at Palace last Saturday until they gained the extra-man advantage.
Either way this won’t be an easy game for either team but Liverpool should really have little excuses to not get something out of this game.
Prediction: Union Saint-Gilloise 1-1 Liverpool
Result: Union Saint-Gilloise 2-1 Liverpool
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