Shakhtar Donetsk vs Crystal Palace Prediction: Turan’s team can take something to south London

Shakhtar Donetsk and Crystal Palace will contest one of the UEFA Conference League semi-final ties, with the first leg between the Ukranians and their English counterparts taking place on neutral ground in Krakow this Thursday (20:00 BST, TNT Sports 2) due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Below are my Shakhtar Donetsk vs Crystal Palace predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this midweek meeting at the Synerise Arena.

Team News

Danylo Udod (unspecified) remains a long-term injury absentee for Shakhtar Donetsk, who won 3-1 at Kudrivka in the Ukrainian Premier League last Sunday.

Boss Arda Turan could make a few changes to his starting XI for Thursday's game, with Kaua Elias, Alisson, Pedro Henriquet, Vinicius Tobias, Dmytro Riznyk, Valeriy Bondar and Yehor Nazaryna, all of whom began their quarter-final second leg at AZ Alkmaar earlier in the month, in contention for recalls in Krakow.

Football Odds

Eddie Nketiah (thigh), Evann Guessand and Cheick Doucoure (both knee) are out injured for Crystal Palace, whose head coach Oliver Glasner could name the same starting XI that lost 3-1 at Liverpool last Saturday.

Should the Austrian decide to shake things up, Chadi Riad, Jefferson Lerma, Will Hughes, Yeremy Pino and Jorgen Strand Larsen are all vying for promotions from the bench.

Borna Sosa is also on standby to start if Tyrick Mitchell fails to recover from the Achilles problem that forced him off at half-time against Liverpool.

Shakhtar Donetsk vs Crystal Palace Odds

Shakhtar Donetsk are 11/4, or a 26.7% chance, to triumph in Krakow, with Crystal Palace 1/1 to head back to south London with a first-leg lead, implying a 50% probability of success, and the draw offered at 12/5.

Double Chance - Shakhtar Donetsk or Draw @ 4/5

Palace have already beaten a Ukrainian side in Poland this season, securing a 2-0 victory over Dynamo Kyiv in Lublin back in the opening round of the league phase.

Shakhtar, though, are top of the Ukrainian Premier League, 13 points ahead of fourth-placed Dynamo Kyiv, so should, in theory, provide sterner opposition.

Today's Football Fixtures

Turan's team have only been beaten twice in Europe this season, with both defeats coming against Polish sides, Legia Warsaw (1-2) and Lech Poznan (1-2), in Poland.

Palace, meanwhile, have failed to win any of their three knockout phase away games in regulation time.

The Eagles drew 1-1 at Bosnian club Zrinjski Mostar in the first leg of their knockout phase play-off tie before another 1-1 away to Cypriot side AEK Larnca in the second leg of their last-16 tie, which they won 2-1 after extra time.

Then, in the second leg of their quarter-final tie with Fiorentina, Glasner's charges fell to a 2-1 defeat in Florence, although the result proved immaterial as the Premier League club advanced 4-2 on aggregate.

Considering the above, the 5/6 on a Shakhtar Win or Draw looks good to me.

Anytime Goalscorer - Alisson (SHK) @ 4/1

Injury kept Alisson out of the league phase, but the Brazilian attacker has made up for lost time in the knockout phase, scoring three goals in six appearances.

Alisson bagged a brace in the first leg of Shakhtar's quarter-final tie with AZ on April 9, and in the return fixture in the Netherlands a week later, he opened the scoring in a 2-2 draw.

The 20-year-old stayed on the bench for Sunday's 3-1 win at Kudrivka, so he should be raring to go on Thursday against Palace, who have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last six away games.

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