Partizan will take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their Europa Conference League knockout round playoff tie against Sparta Prague on Thursday.
The hosts enter the contest off the back of a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions, while the defeat last week ended Sparta Prague's own eight-match undefeated streak.
Match preview
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Partizan claimed a narrow victory in Prague last Thursday with a 78th-minute strike from Queensy Menig proving enough to help his side to a 1-0 win.
They followed that result with a 2-0 home win over Radnicki 1923 at the weekend in the Super Liga, thanks to strikes from Ricardo Gomes and Milos Jojic.
Following their return from the winter break, the Serbian side have claimed three consecutive victories to ensure that they head into Thursday's contest in a confident mood.
Aleksandar Stanojevic's team tend to fare well at home, having not tasted defeat at the Partizan Stadium since a 1-0 loss to Gent on October 21.
Since that Europa Conference League group stage defeat, Partizan have embarked on an eight-game unbeaten home run in all competitions.
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Sparta Prague, meanwhile, know that they will have to win in Belgrade to qualify for the last 16.
They have had mixed fortunes since their return from their winter break, drawing two league games on either side of a cup win before suffering a narrow defeat in the first leg last week.
With no game at the weekend, the side from the Czech Republic have had a week to prepare for their trip to Belgrade.
The visitors are yet to win away in European competition this season, with their poor away form in the Europa League group stage contributing to them dropping down to the Europa Conference League.
However, Sparta Prague can take encouragement from their current unbeaten away run, which stretches to four matches in all competitions.
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Team News
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Partizan are expected to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Ricardo set to lead the line for the hosts.
Marko Jevtovic was introduced at half time in the first leg, and Stanojevic could bring the midfielder into the starting lineup for Thursday's contest.
After scoring for the second time in the Europa Conference League last Thursday, Menig will be one of the home side's main goal threats.
As for the visitors, they had no game at the weekend so will be well-rested ahead of the second leg.
Tomas Wiesner could return to the starting lineup after missing the first leg through suspension, while Lukas Haraslin could also come into the side after featuring as a second-half substitute last Thursday.
Adam Hlozek could be a key player for the visitors as he looks to add to the seven goals that he has scored this season.
Partizan possible starting lineup:
Popovic; Zivkovic, Vujacic, Miletic, Urosevic; Jevtovic, Jojic; Markovic, Natcho, Menig; Ricardo
Sparta Prague possible starting lineup:
Holec; Wiesner, Panak, Celustka, Hancko; Sacek, Pavelka; Pesek, Hlozek, Haraslin; Cvancara
We say: Partizan 1-1 Sparta Prague
Like the first leg, we expect Thursday's meeting between the sides to be a Hard-fought encounter, but on home turf, Partizan are a tough team to beat, and we think that they will do enough to progress in the Europa Conference League.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Partizan win with a probability of 39.33%. A win for Sparta Prague had a probability of 35.91% and a draw had a probability of 24.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Partizan win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.6%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.2%) and 2-0 (6.1%). The likeliest Sparta Prague win was 1-2 (8.16%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.57%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Partizan in this match.
