Newcastle look to finish in style

Newcastle
The Premiership side failed to win at home for the fifth time in succession on Saturday and will be looking to get back to form on Thursday in the competition where they have a 100 per cent record. Lee Bowyer (banned for the Sochaux tie) gave Newcastle the lead against Portsmouth FC with a spectacular strike but a deflected goal pegged them back. Graeme Souness was again forced to do without Stephen Carr, Nicky Butt and Alan Shearer while Patrick Kluivert was a new addition to the injury list. However, Olivier Bernard was able to return.

Sporting
Sporting drew 0-0 at home to SC Braga with Fabio Rochemback, Mauricio Pinilla and Mário Sérgio back in the squad. Custódio and Tinga were both suspended while Carlos Martins and Marius Niculae were injured. The point put the Lisbon side level on 25 points with FC Porto, in second place in the Portuguese SuperLiga. Hugo Viana, on loan to Sporting from Newcastle, will not be able to play on Thursday due to the loan agreement.

Sochaux
Sochaux suffered a third straight home defeat on Sunday. Having trailed 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain FC, they gave themselves hope with a Santos goal 15 minutes from time. For Matchday 5, Sochaux will be without Sylvain Monsoreau (knee), Lionel Potillon (adductor muscle) and Marcelo Trapasso (knee) but midfielder Wilson Oruma and striker Jaouad Zairi can return.

Panionios
The Greek team's first away goal in the league brought them their first away win, an Evagelos Mantzios strike earning maximum points against Iraklis FC. Coach Georgios Vazakas could not count on Mico Smiljanic, Saša Zimonjic or Evagelos Tsiolis through injury or illness while Australian right-back Travis Dodd is on a three-week leave of absence in his home country for personal reasons. A further blow is the unavailability for this week's game of suspended central defender Panagiotis Giannopoulos.

Dinamo Tbilisi
Heavy snow caused the postponement until further notice of FC Dinamo Tbilisi's Georgian Cup quarter-final second leg against FC Zestafoni. Dinamo won the first leg in Tbilisi 2-1 on 9 December, in contrast to their UEFA Cup fortunes where they lost all four matches.