PSV Eindhoven continue their Champions League campaign on Wednesday with a trip to Russia as they face CSKA Moscow

PSV man uAfter the shock 2-1 win over Manchester United in match-day one PSV head to Russia knowing a win would put them in a commanding position in the group.

However the Eindhoven club go into the game on the back of three disappointing performances. Following the victory over Manchester United, PSV lost their first game of the season to Heracles Almelo before laboring to narrow wins against Cambuur and NEC Nijmegen.

Phillip Cocu’s side will need to improve greatly if they are to get any sort of result in Russia against the current league leaders CSKA Moscow, who are unbeaten in the Russian Premier League this season, but lost their opening Champions League group tie against Wolfsburg 1-0 in Germany.

Team News

PSV suffered a major blow two weeks ago when Andres Guardado was ruled out for six weeks, and in the tie against NEC they also lost top scorer Luuk de Jong to an ankle injury. Both will miss the tie in Russia along with long term absentee Jetro Willems.

Possible PSV line-up: Zoet, Arias, Brenet, Bruma, Moreno, Schaars, Maher, Propper, Lestienne, Narsingh, Locadia

CSKA are sweating over the fitness of three players heading into the match, with Akinfeev (knee), V Berezutski (adductor muscle), and Eremenko (groin) all facing late fitness tests.

Possible CSKA line up: Akinfeev, Mário Fernandes, A Berezutski, Ignashevich, Schennikov; Wernbloom, Tošić, Natcho, Dzagoev; Musa, Doumbia.

Head to Head

PSV and CSKA Moscow met each other back in the 2007/08 Champions League group stages with the Dutch side triumphing both home and away.

Goals from Danko Lazovic and Kenneth Perez gave PSV a 2-1 win in Eindhoven, before Jefferson Farfan netted the only goal in Moscow.

Last year PSV met Dinamo Moscow in the Europa league group stages and lost both home and away, before being knocked out of the competition in the first knockout round by Russian champions Zenit.

What the coaches say (From UEFA)

Phillip Cocu: “CSKA are a very good side with a good squad of players and they are a well-organised outfit. We will try to play as well in this match as we did in our first group game. All clubs are different and it is impossible to compare one team with another. You can play well and not get the desired result. It is impossible to compare CSKA, Dinamo and Zenit – Wednesday’s match will show how ready we are for this challenge.”

“All the teams in the group are of roughly the same standard. Every mistake could have a bearing on the match and could cost the team that makes them dearly.”

Leonid Slutski: “We know PSV is a talent factory. Now they have a new batch of young players with great individual skills. It will be a difficult and interesting match.

“PSV are going well in their league – 14 points from seven games. They beat Manchester United, the league leaders in England, so they should not be underestimated.”

Key match-ups

Jurgen Locadia v Sergei Ignashevich 

Jurgen Locadia has been calling out for his chance to start as PSV’s number nine, and even considered leaving the club this summer in order to progress as a striker. However with the injury to De Jong the youngster will finally have his chance through the middle.

He will be eager to impress coach Phillip Cocu, but will come up against experienced defender Sergei Ignashvich. If Locadia can get the better of the Russian then PSV could be onto a good result.

Stijn Schaars v Alan Dzagoev

With Andres Guardado out, Stijn Schaars will probably get the nod ahead of Jorrit Hendrix in the midfield, and his task for the night will be to keep Dzagoev quiet.

Dazgoev will look to pull the strings in the middle of the park and if PSV give the 25-year-old too much time on the ball then he will punish them. Schaars will need to stay close to the 25-year-old and mark him out of the game if PSV are to stop the Russians.

Seydou Doumbia v Joshua Brenet

A quick and tricky winger, Doumbia is CSKA’s biggest attacking threat with the Ivorian netting seven times in nine games so far this season. Joshua Brenet will be given the task of marking Doumbia on Wednesday, and the young left back will need to stem his attacking intent if he is to keep the winger from netting against PSV.




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