Top two prepare for Donetsk showdown

Trophy-holders FC Shakhtar Donetsk are on the lookout for a third successive 4-1 win in the UEFA Europa League, but Toulouse FC – who have emerged as their main Group J challengers – have been in fine form on foreign soil.

Previous meetings
• This is the sides' first meeting and Toulouse's first competitive game against Ukrainian opposition. Shakhtar have yet to lose at home against French clubs, with their four games in Ukraine against Ligue 1 teams yielding two wins and two draws.

Match background
• Shakhtar have set a punishing pace in Group J, with 4-1 victories in both of their opening games in the section. Their only defeat in seven competitive European outings this season was a 1-0 loss to FC Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup. However, they were also dumped out of the UEFA Champions League in the third qualifying round by FC Timişoara on away goals after draws in both legs.

• Shakhtar are unbeaten in eight European home games since a 1-0 defeat by Sporting Clube de Portugal on 22 October 2008 during last season's UEFA Champions League group stage – a year to the day before their encounter with Toulouse. They scored at least twice in all of those matches – seven wins and a draw.

• Having gone almost 12 years without a European away win prior to this season, Toulouse have now won their last two fixtures on the road, scoring three times in each: a 3-1 win at Trabzonspor and a 3-2 triumph at FK Partizan.

Team facts
• Shakhtar are coached by the hugely experienced Mircea Lucescu, a 74-times capped former Romania striker who spent the bulk of his playing career with FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti. He won Romanian titles as a coach with both Dinamo and FC Rapid Bucureşti plus Turkish championships with Galatasaray AŞ (2001/02) and Beşiktaş JK (2002/03). Since joining Shakhtar, he has won three Ukrainian Premier League crowns and, of course, the final edition of the UEFA Cup last season.

• Lucescu has overseen seven home games against French opponents since moving into management. He is unbeaten in six since losing his first, when Rapid succumbed 2-1 to Olympique Lyonnais in the UEFA Intertoto Cup on 19 July 1997.

• A former goalkeeper, Toulouse coach Alain Casanova played for Le Havre AC and Toulouse either side of a two-season spell at Olympique de Marseille in which he did not make a single competitive appearance. He replaced Elie Baup as Toulouse coach in May 2008.

• Shakhtar's Olexandr Kucher celebrates his 27th birthday on the day of the match.

• Shakhtar beat Toulouse's Ligue 1 rivals Marseille in last season's UEFA Cup quarter-finals en route to winning the competition in Istanbul.

• The two sides meet again in France on 5 November for Matchday 4.